mislead
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Lead someone in the wrong direction or give someone wrong directions.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mihsleedSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
mɪsˈlid
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
literally
Lead someone in the wrong direction or give someone wrong directions
literally
To lead astray, in a false direction.
To deceive by telling lies or otherwise giving a false impression.
To deceptively trick into something wrong.
loosely
To accidentally or intentionally confuse.
noun
A wrong or bad lead; a leading in the wrong direction.
countable
That which is deceptive or untruthful (e.g. a falsehood, deception, untruth, or ruse).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Lead someone in the wrong direction or give someone wrong directions
Used this way, mislead is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.