Word.ws English Dictionary

misunderstood

Syllables: mis·un·der·stoodUK/ˌmɪs.ʌn.dəˈstʊd//ˌmɪs.ʌn.dɚˈstʊd/

misunderstood is the simple past and past participle of misunderstand.

Adjective

misunderstood (comparative more misunderstood, superlative most misunderstood)

  1. Not comprehended correctly.
    • a misunderstood message
  2. Not viewed with sympathy and understanding despite warranting it.
    • Near-synonym: underappreciated
    • a misunderstood loner who turned to a life of crime

Meaning of misunderstand

Verb

misunderstand (third-person singular simple present misunderstands, present participle misunderstanding, simple past and past participle misunderstood)

  1. (transitive) 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 of misunderstood

Forms of misunderstood

comparativemore misunderstood
superlativemost misunderstood

Words formed from misunderstood

Words that rhyme with misunderstood

8 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about misunderstood

What does misunderstood mean?
Misunderstood means not comprehended correctly.
What is misunderstood the simple past and past participle of?
Misunderstood is the simple past and past participle of misunderstand.
What part of speech is misunderstood?
Misunderstood is an adjective.
How do you pronounce misunderstood?
Misunderstood is pronounced /ˌmɪs.ʌn.dəˈstʊd/ (UK).

Words near misunderstood in the dictionary

  1. misunderstated
  2. misunderstatement
  3. misunderstatements
  4. misunderstates
  5. misunderstating
  6. misunderstood
  7. misunderstoodness
  8. misunification
  9. misunifications
  10. misunified
  11. misunify

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: misunderstood (page history and authors); misunderstand (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: en-us-misunderstood.ogg.

Cite this entry: “misunderstood.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/misunderstood. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.