misquote

1 of 2

noun

mis·​quote ˈmis-ˌkwōt How to pronounce misquote (audio)
 also  -ˌkōt
plural misquotes
: an act or instance of quoting something incorrectly : misquotation
"If it doesn't show up in the drug controls, then it's not doping," [Michele] Ferrari was quoted as having said (a statement he has since characterized as a misquote) …Bill Gifford
They will defend his every misquote and misuse of scripture as the shortcomings of a new believer or even the second coming of Cyrus.Erick Erickson

misquote

2 of 2

verb

mis·​quote ˌmis-ˈkwōt How to pronounce misquote (audio)
 also  -ˈkōt
misquoted; misquoting

transitive + intransitive

: to quote (someone or something) incorrectly
… when it quickly became clear that these were not the facts, he took refuge in the trapped politician's standard excuse: The press had misquoted him.Geoffrey C. Ward
He misquotes frequently, providing others with opportunity to give him a taste of his own medicine.Susan Rusinko

Examples of misquote in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Misinformation, conspiracies, misquotes and binary extremes are all the rage because that’s where the money is, in both political coverage and entertainment journalism. Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Feb. 2024 One New York Times article that cited Gallant’s mangled misquote sourced the words to an op-ed in another outlet, which sourced them to an X post that featured an embedded TikTok video. Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 21 Jan. 2024 Still, to paraphrase the famous misquote of auto executive Charles Wilson, what’s terrible for Bud Light sales is now good for America. Rich Lowry, National Review, 31 May 2023 That’s not a misquote. David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2022 People have argued whether a shoddy radio connection caused the misquote, or if Armstrong had a case of global stage fright and skipped over the tiny, but important, word. Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 18 July 2014 The magazine LGBTQ Nation writes in depth about the history behind gun rights activists appropriation of this misquote in a piece from 2017. Bayliss Wagner, USA TODAY, 18 May 2019 However, the misquote endured, influencing science fiction and the gullible public for decades. David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 28 Aug. 2022 The words has been misattributed to Lincoln for decades, in part because of a misquote from former President Ronald Reagan. Matthew Brown, USA TODAY, 27 Aug. 2020
Verb
An earlier version of this article misquoted Rosenbaum describing stages on set. Chloe Melas, NBC News, 19 Feb. 2024 Correction: An earlier version of this story misquoted Sen. John Schickel on the subject of diversity. Hannah Pinski, The Courier-Journal, 14 Feb. 2024 Ashcraft said the vice mayor was misquoting her, and Daysog tried to interrupt her rebuttal. Shomik Mukherjee, The Mercury News, 4 Jan. 2024 An article on Page 40 this weekend about Las Vegas’s Punk Rock Museum misquotes the zine writer Aaron Cometbus. New York Times, 2 Dec. 2023 An article on Monday about reactions at U.S. synagogues to the war in Israel misquoted a portion of Rabbi Sam Levine’s prepared remarks. New York Times, 17 Oct. 2023 Climate scientist Simon Lewis on setting the record straight after he gets misquoted by the Sunday Times’s Jonathan Leake. Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 6 Nov. 2010 This was such a stupid thing to say that Ramaswamy retreated to the standard cornered politician’s defense that he’d been misquoted. The Editors, National Review, 23 Aug. 2023 And the article misquoted a phrase that Ben Blaz, a former United States representative from Guam, used in describing Guam’s political status in a 1991 letter to the editor published in The Times. New York Times, 13 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'misquote.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1855, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1644, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of misquote was in 1644

Dictionary Entries Near misquote

Cite this Entry

“Misquote.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misquote. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

misquote

verb
mis·​quote
(ˈ)mis-ˈkwōt
: to quote incorrectly
misquotation
ˌmis-kwō-ˈtā-shən
noun

More from Merriam-Webster on misquote

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!