misnomer
noun
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Don't Mistake the Meaning of Misnomer
What’s in a name? Well, in some cases, a name will contain an error, a misunderstanding, or a mislabeling. Historians have long noted that the Holy Roman Empire was not holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. The Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breed’s Hill. And the Pennsylvania Dutch are in fact of German ancestry. For such cases, we have the term misnomer, which can refer both to the use of an incorrect or inappropriate designation (as in “it’s a misnomer to call an orca a ‘killer whale’”) or to the designation itself. Regardless, there’s no mistaking the source of misnomer: it comes from the Anglo-French verb mesnomer (“to misname”) and ultimately has its roots in nomen, the Latin word for “name.”
Examples of misnomer in a Sentence
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Apr. 2024
Depending on your predilections, the title might sound like a misnomer, but there’s a lot of pleasure to be had in crisply balanced moderation, just not the kind that tends to turn living artists into legends.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2024
Isolationism can often be a misnomer because the opponents of entry into World War II were not always neutral but often pro-Hitler, including the famed aviator Charles Lindbergh and the popular anti-Semitic agitator Elizabeth Dilling, who was known as the Female Fuhrer in Germany.
—Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2024
One of the quickest ways to also cause your furnace to fail is to run it beyond its capacity, Schutt says, adding there's a misnomer that the air inside your home will be warmer if the thermostat is at a higher set point.
—Alexandria Burris, The Enquirer, 14 Jan. 2024
Charles Robert Jenkins was growing increasingly uneasy about leading aggressive military patrols near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a misnomer for the dividing line between South Korea and North Korea, two nations still technically at war today.
—Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Jan. 2024
In my view classical education (a misnomer for traditional liberal arts education) is something that thoughtful progressives can and should support.
—Erin Maglaque, The New York Review of Books, 21 Sep. 2023
Although most people believe bear hibernation is a months-long stretch where bears fall asleep in autumn and don’t stir until spring, that’s a misnomer.
—Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 16 Aug. 2023
The financial district name has become something of a misnomer as the neighborhood, once derided as a desert after the bankers commute home, becomes a vibrant residential enclave at Manhattan’s southernmost tip.
—Matthew Haag, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'misnomer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Misnomer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misnomer. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
misnomer
noun
Legal Definition
misnomer
noun
Note: Amendment of the pleadings is generally allowed in cases of misnomer.
Anglo-French mesnomer, from mesnomer to misname, from Middle French mes- wrongly + nommer to name, from Latin nominare, from nomin- nomen name
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