Mislead Meaning
/mɪsˈliːd/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo lead astray, in a false direction.
verbTo deceive by telling lies or otherwise giving a false impression.
Sentence Examples
I won’t mislead you, I won’t betray you, I won't shirk!
The speaker believes that cosmetic industries mislead women with impossible claims.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The false advertisement tried to ____ customers about its product benefits.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The dishonest salesman tried to ____ the customers by exaggerating the various benefits of the expensive new product he was selling.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English mysleden, from Old English mislǣdan (“to mislead”), from Proto-Germanic *missalaidijaną (“to mislead”). By surface analysis, mis- + lead.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"City of the dead / At the end of another lost highway / Signs misleading to nowhere"
— 2004, Green Day, “Jesus of Suburbia”, in American Idiot:
"If all the misleads (incorrect alternatives) are illogical, absurd, or in any way unattractive as possible answers, the student has no difficulty in choosing the correct answer."
— 1951, Improvement of Grading Practices for the Air Training, page 31:
"The skinny body, a mislead to make people think that he was captured by someone and tortured. Even the loud gunshot was a mislead to make them ask questions to common citizens. His long untidy hair, also a mislead."
— 2021, Aren Bjorgman, Frozen Ashes:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The false advertisement tried to ____ customers about its product benefits.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The dishonest salesman tried to ____ the customers by exaggerating the various benefits of the expensive new product he was selling.