Standard Lemma guide

misleading

adj · noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /(ˌ)mɪsˈliːdɪŋ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːdɪŋ
  • CMU ARPABET: M IH0 S L IY1 D IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Deceptive or tending to mislead or create a false impression, even if technically true.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: confusing, misdirective, mistakable

Antonyms: clear, unconfusing, unmisleading

2

noun

Meaning 2

A deception that misleads.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: disinformation, false pretense, fakeout, head fake, misinformation, ploy, ruse

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

present participle and gerund of mislead

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

designed to deceive or mislead either deliberately or inadvertently

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the deceptive calm in the eye of the storm
  • deliberately deceptive packaging
  • a misleading similarity
  • statistics can be presented in ways that are misleading
  • shoddy business practices

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deceptive, shoddy

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From mislead + -ing.

Across languages

Translations

49 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مُضَلِّل (muḍallil) — tending to mislead
  • Belarusian: зма́нлівы (zmánlivy) — tending to mislead
  • Bulgarian: заблуждаващ (zabluždavašt) — tending to mislead
  • Bulgarian: подвеждащ (podveždašt) — tending to mislead
  • Chinese Mandarin: 易誤解的 /易误解的 (yì wùjiě de) — tending to mislead
  • Chinese Mandarin: 誤導的 /误导的 (wùdǎo de) — tending to mislead
  • Chinese Mandarin: 虛幻的 /虚幻的 (xūhuàn de) — tending to mislead
  • Chinese Mandarin: 使人產生誤解 /使人产生误解 (shǐrén chǎnshēng wùjiě) — tending to mislead
  • Czech: zavádějící — tending to mislead
  • Dutch: misleidend — tending to mislead
  • Esperanto: miskonkludiga — tending to mislead
  • Esperanto: misgvida — tending to mislead
  • Finnish: harhaanjohtava — tending to mislead
  • Finnish: erehdyttävä — tending to mislead
  • Finnish: petollinen — tending to mislead
  • Finnish: harhauttava — tending to mislead
  • French: trompeur — tending to mislead
  • Georgian: შეცდომაში შემყვანი (šecdomaši šemq̇vani) — tending to mislead
  • Georgian: მომატყუებელი (momaṭq̇uebeli) — tending to mislead
  • German: irreführend — tending to mislead
  • German: missverständlich — tending to mislead
  • German: verwirrend — tending to mislead
  • Greek: παραπλανητικός (paraplanitikós) — tending to mislead
  • Ancient Greek: παραγωγός (paragōgós) — tending to mislead
  • Ancient Greek: πλάνος (plános) — tending to mislead
  • Hebrew: מטעה (mat'é) — tending to mislead
  • Hindi: भ्रामक (bhrāmak) — tending to mislead
  • Hungarian: félrevezető — tending to mislead
  • Hungarian: megtévesztő — tending to mislead
  • Italian: fuorviante — tending to mislead
  • Japanese: 紛らわしい (magirawashii) — tending to mislead
  • Norwegian Bokmål: misvisende — tending to mislead
  • Portuguese: enganoso — tending to mislead
  • Portuguese: ilusório — tending to mislead
  • Russian: обма́нчивый (obmánčivyj) — tending to mislead
  • Russian: дезориенти́рующий (dezorijentírujuščij) — tending to mislead
  • Russian: ло́жный (lóžnyj) — tending to mislead
  • Russian: вводя́щий в заблужде́ние (vvodjáščij v zabluždénije) — tending to mislead
  • Serbo-Croatian: prijetvoran — tending to mislead
  • Serbo-Croatian: obmanjivački — tending to mislead
  • Serbo-Croatian: dezorijentirajući — tending to mislead
  • Spanish: engañoso — tending to mislead
  • Spanish: despistante — tending to mislead
  • Spanish: delusorio — tending to mislead
  • Spanish: descaminante — tending to mislead
  • Spanish: desencaminante — tending to mislead
  • Swedish: vilseledande — tending to mislead
  • Swedish: missvisande — tending to mislead
  • Ukrainian: обма́нливий (obmánlyvyj) — tending to mislead