misconstrue
to misunderstand or misinterpret a message
TRANSLATION
misconstrue = missdeuten, missverstehen --- GOOGLE INDEX misconstrue: approximately 8,500,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
He advised that to indicate sincerity, and to guarantee an e-mail is not MISCONSTRUED by its reader as sarcastic, smilies - faces formed out punctuation marks - were a very good shorthand for indicating friendliness.
(BBC News)
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A neon yellow lining lurking beneath an otherwise somber suit could lead your customers or business partners to MISCONSTRUE your true intentions and character.
t-systemsasiapac.com
(BBC News)
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A neon yellow lining lurking beneath an otherwise somber suit could lead your customers or business partners to MISCONSTRUE your true intentions and character.
t-systemsasiapac.com
Did you
know?
misconstrue
verb
- interpret (a person’s words or actions) wrongly
(Oxford English Dictionaries)
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Misconstrue is one of more than 1,000 English words that have the prefix mis-, which means "bad or wrong." Mis- goes back to Old English and eventually derives from a Proto-Germanic source that was used in Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Middle Dutch, Old High German and other older languages. The modern German prefix "miss," with double "s" is applied in the same way.
Construe is a 15th century word that stems from the Late Latin construo, meaning "to relate grammatically" and in classical Latin "to build up, pile together" (such as in construct, construction).
Construe originally was used to describe applying the rules of syntax in order to show the structure, arrangement or connection of a sentence or clause. This usually involves arranging the words in their natural order in order to demonstrate their meaning, thus allowing one to interpret a sentence.
From this grammatical usage, construe then evolved more broadly to mean understanding or explaining the sense or intention of something, usually in a particular way or with respect to a given set of circumstances.
Adding the prefix mis- then essentially changes construe to mean understanding or interpreting something wrongly.
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SYNONYMS
get the wrong impression, distort, exaggerate, misapprehend, misconceive, misinterpret, misjudge, misread, mistake, mistranslate, misunderstand, pervert, take the wrong way
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Written messages can be easily misconstrued."
---
Thanks to Sabine for suggesting today's word!
verb
- interpret (a person’s words or actions) wrongly
(Oxford English Dictionaries)
---
Misconstrue is one of more than 1,000 English words that have the prefix mis-, which means "bad or wrong." Mis- goes back to Old English and eventually derives from a Proto-Germanic source that was used in Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Middle Dutch, Old High German and other older languages. The modern German prefix "miss," with double "s" is applied in the same way.
Construe is a 15th century word that stems from the Late Latin construo, meaning "to relate grammatically" and in classical Latin "to build up, pile together" (such as in construct, construction).
Construe originally was used to describe applying the rules of syntax in order to show the structure, arrangement or connection of a sentence or clause. This usually involves arranging the words in their natural order in order to demonstrate their meaning, thus allowing one to interpret a sentence.
From this grammatical usage, construe then evolved more broadly to mean understanding or explaining the sense or intention of something, usually in a particular way or with respect to a given set of circumstances.
Adding the prefix mis- then essentially changes construe to mean understanding or interpreting something wrongly.
---
SYNONYMS
get the wrong impression, distort, exaggerate, misapprehend, misconceive, misinterpret, misjudge, misread, mistake, mistranslate, misunderstand, pervert, take the wrong way
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Written messages can be easily misconstrued."
---
Thanks to Sabine for suggesting today's word!
