as in to misunderstand
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Recent Examples of mishear
Older patients, especially, mishear instructions or are too overwhelmed by bad news to listen carefully.
—
David Owen, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025
These assistants regularly misunderstand, mishear, and sometimes just don’t listen at all.
—Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, The Verge, 14 June 2024
She's confused: Did Adrian mishear something or is Brayden being manipulative?
—Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 4 July 2023
The people in her stories mishear and misunderstand one another, indulge in compulsive wordplay and defiant corniness.
—Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 12 June 2023
Now, don’t mishear me.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Nov. 2022
Biden didn’t seem to mishear the question.
—Stephen Collinson, CNN, 19 Sep. 2022
Responding, Thompson defended the profession and appeared either to mishear the host or not know who Sean Bean was.
—K.j. Yossman, Variety, 11 Aug. 2022
On Twitter, the reporter who wrote the article said the mistake happened because the comment by Buttigieg happened with a noisy background, causing the reporter to mishear the recording while transcribing at a rally.
—Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 11 Nov. 2019
David Owen, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025
These assistants regularly misunderstand, mishear, and sometimes just don’t listen at all.
—Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, The Verge, 14 June 2024
She's confused: Did Adrian mishear something or is Brayden being manipulative?
—Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 4 July 2023
The people in her stories mishear and misunderstand one another, indulge in compulsive wordplay and defiant corniness.
—Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 12 June 2023
Now, don’t mishear me.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Nov. 2022
Biden didn’t seem to mishear the question.
—Stephen Collinson, CNN, 19 Sep. 2022
Responding, Thompson defended the profession and appeared either to mishear the host or not know who Sean Bean was.
—K.j. Yossman, Variety, 11 Aug. 2022
On Twitter, the reporter who wrote the article said the mistake happened because the comment by Buttigieg happened with a noisy background, causing the reporter to mishear the recording while transcribing at a rally.
—Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 11 Nov. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mishear
Verb
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That's extremely common among these cases, said University of Idaho law professor Benji Cover, who wrote a paper about people, including noncitizens, misunderstanding election rules and being prosecuted in recent decades.—
Miles Parks,
NPR,
17 May 2025
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The driver misunderstood the instruction and entered the fast lane before the re-start time was officially confirmed in breach of the Race Director's event notes.—
Lydia Mee,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 May 2025
Verb
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With two on and no outs, Yamamoto raced off the mound to field a bunt that first baseman Freddie Freeman misread, anticipating Cleveland second baseman Will Wilson to angle the ball up the third-base line.—
Jack Harris,
Los Angeles Times,
27 May 2025
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This justification misreads the problems plaguing the U.S. healthcare system.—
Wayne Winegarden,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2025
Verb
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But on the whole, many working in DEI argue that critics who call it discriminatory are fundamentally — and often willfully — misinterpreting their profession.—
Maria Aspan,
NPR,
27 May 2025
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Similarly, in an energy plant, an AI system designed to monitor equipment performance might misinterpret sensor data, overlooking a critical fault that could lead to catastrophic failure.—
Lucian Boldea,
Forbes.com,
21 May 2025
Verb
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According to the researchers, these misperceptions may stop people from speaking up about their concerns and cause policymakers to misperceive how much their constituents care.—
Laura Schulte,
Journal Sentinel,
28 Apr. 2023
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Russian pilots could misperceive the escorts as offensive NATO warplanes and engage them, precipitating a disaster with unknown consequences.—
Rebeccah Heinrichs,
National Review,
24 Feb. 2022
Verb
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But would her students, turned on everywhere by the dogma of political correctness, misapprehend Haynes’s aim?—
Doreen St. Félix,
The New Yorker,
22 June 2023
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Some people misapprehend it and think of as imitation.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
17 Nov. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Mishear.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mishear. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
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