misdescribev.
/ˌmɪsdᵻˈskrʌɪb/, U.S. /ˌmɪsdəˈskraɪb/, /ˌmɪsdiˈskraɪb/ transitive. To describe inaccurately or misleadingly.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > misrepresentation > misrepresent [verb (transitive)]
disguise1398
colourc1400
abuse?a1439
wrest1524
beliec1531
to spell (one) backward1600
misuse1609
bowa1616
falsify1630
misrepresent1633
traduce1643
garble1659
miscolour1661
misrender1674
travesty1825
misdescribe1827
skew1872
misportray1925
1827 J. S. Mill in J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. V. ix. vi. v. 599 When any other circumstance..is misdescribed in the pleadings.
1884 Fortn. Rev. Dec. 847 The events..have been systematically misdescribed by..the Liberal press.
1943 Mind 52 313 The man who never said, ‘To see an event we should have to see it in an instant’, thus self-contradictorily misdescribing our use of ‘see an event’.
1991 S. J. Gould Bully for Brontosaurus v. 87 He also took this opportunity to pour some vitriol upon Mr. Cope, claiming that Cope had misnamed and misdescribed several forms in his haste.
2009 N. Baker Anthologist i. 6 You,..as a casual listener to pop songs, understand meter better than the metrists who misdescribed it over several centuries understood it.
Derivatives
misdeˈscribed adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > misrepresentation > [adjective] > represented imperfectly
garbleda1757
misrepresented1796
oversold1879
misdescribed1891
skewed1935
1891 J. C. Atkinson Forty Years Moorland Parish 153 These misnamed, or rather misdescribed pits.
1992–3 Guitarist (BNC) An entitlement to money back if the goods are faulty, misdescribed or not fit for the purpose you requested them to perform.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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