misunderstand
/mɪs.ʌn.də(ɹ)ˈstænd/
misunderstand verb: to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly.
Verb
misunderstand (third-person singular simple present misunderstands, present participle misunderstanding, simple past and past participle misunderstood)
- To understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly.
- We found that teen drivers and the public largely misunderstand the legal status of cannabis use and do not fully recognize the risks of cannabis-impaired driving.2024, NTSB, Intersection Crash Between Passenger Car and Combination Vehicle, Tishomingo, Oklahoma, March 22, 2022
- Synonyms:
- take the wrong way
misunderstand meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
misunderstand in Hindi
- to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- ग़लत समझना ġalat samajhnā
misunderstand in Tamil
- தவறாகப் புரிந்துகொள்ளும்
misunderstand in Marathi
- to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- गैरसमज होणे gairsamaj̈ hoṇe
misunderstand in Urdu
- to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly
- غلط سمجھنا ġalat samajhnā
More languagesFewer languages
- misunderstand in Bengali
- ভুল বোঝা, ভুল ব্যাখ্যা করা
- misunderstand in Malayalam
- തെറ്റിദ്ധരിക്കുക teṟṟiddharikkuka
- misunderstand in Kannada
- ತಪ್ಪು ಅರ್ಥದಲ್ಲಿ ಗ್ರಹಿಸು, ತಪ್ಪಾಗಿ ತಿಳಿದುಕೊ, ಅಪಾರ್ಥಕಲ್ಪಿಸು, ಅಪಾರ್ಥಮಾಡು
- misunderstand in Arabic
- أَسَاءَ الْفَهْم ʔasāʔa l-fahm
- misunderstand in Malay
- salah faham
- misunderstand in Indonesian
- salah paham
- misunderstand in Thai
- เข้าใจผิด kâo-jai-pìt, เขว kwăy
Synonyms of misunderstand
Forms of misunderstand
| third-person singular present | misunderstands |
|---|---|
| present participle | misunderstanding |
| past participle | misunderstood |
| past | misunderstood |
Origin of misunderstand
From Middle English mys-understanden, equivalent to mis- + understand.
Words formed from misunderstand
Words that rhyme with misunderstand
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- outstand
- overhand
- bestand
- gland
- secondhand
- unscanned
- disband
- grand
- offhand
- unmanned
- unplanned
- aband
- aland
- fanned
- firsthand
- lotus land
- lotusland
- misbrand
- planned
- redemand
- reland
- repand
- scanned
- shand
- tanned
- thirdhand
- withstand
- 2ndhand
- astrand
- at second hand
- banned
- counterdemand
- desand
- fand
- grande
- haircut band
- hand
- interstrand
- manned
- multiplicand
- nonbrand
- operand
- overmanned
- overplanned
- panned
- preplanned
- rebrand
- replanned
Questions about misunderstand
- What does misunderstand mean?
- Misunderstand means to understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly.
- What is misunderstand in Hindi?
- Misunderstand in Hindi is ग़लत समझना (ġalat samajhnā). See Misunderstand meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is misunderstand?
- Misunderstand is a verb.
- How do you pronounce misunderstand?
- Misunderstand is pronounced /mɪs.ʌn.də(ɹ)ˈstænd/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of misunderstand?
- The past tense of misunderstand is misunderstood.
Words near misunderstand in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: misunderstand (page history and authors); misunderstand (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); misunderstand (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); misunderstand (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-misunderstand.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-misunderstand.wav.
Cite this entry: “misunderstand.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/misunderstand. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.