as in to misstate
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Recent Examples of misspeak
The health secretary also appeared to misspeak at the meeting, saying two people had died of the disease.
—
Devi Shastri and Amanda Seitz The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 27 Feb. 2025
Kennedy also seemed to misspeak in saying two people had died of measles.
—Amanda Seitz, Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb. 2025
The health secretary also appeared to misspeak at the meeting, saying two people had died of the disease.
—Devi Shastri and Amanda Seitz The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 27 Feb. 2025
These leaders don’t merely lie or misspeak or make light of life and death.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 23 Oct. 2024
Walz was criticized following the Oct. 1 debate for flubbing an answer about allegedly misspeaking about being in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
—Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 21 Oct. 2024
The Kremlin’s propaganda often uses instances of Biden misspeaking as proof of his ineptitude as the man in charge of Ukraine’s top military backer.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 12 July 2024
Elsewhere, Claude and Angot’s mother, who had Christine out of wedlock and fought to get her father to recognize his child in a legal sense, are both similarly upbraided for misspeaking about Christine’s trauma in subtle ways, or for not being sympathetic in the right way.
—Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2024
People are just supposed to like you — you’re not supposed to misspeak, look fat, date the wrong person, have your makeup look a different color.
—Elias Leight, Rolling Stone, 12 Feb. 2022
Devi Shastri and Amanda Seitz The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 27 Feb. 2025
Kennedy also seemed to misspeak in saying two people had died of measles.
—Amanda Seitz, Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb. 2025
The health secretary also appeared to misspeak at the meeting, saying two people had died of the disease.
—Devi Shastri and Amanda Seitz The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 27 Feb. 2025
These leaders don’t merely lie or misspeak or make light of life and death.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 23 Oct. 2024
Walz was criticized following the Oct. 1 debate for flubbing an answer about allegedly misspeaking about being in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
—Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 21 Oct. 2024
The Kremlin’s propaganda often uses instances of Biden misspeaking as proof of his ineptitude as the man in charge of Ukraine’s top military backer.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 12 July 2024
Elsewhere, Claude and Angot’s mother, who had Christine out of wedlock and fought to get her father to recognize his child in a legal sense, are both similarly upbraided for misspeaking about Christine’s trauma in subtle ways, or for not being sympathetic in the right way.
—Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2024
People are just supposed to like you — you’re not supposed to misspeak, look fat, date the wrong person, have your makeup look a different color.
—Elias Leight, Rolling Stone, 12 Feb. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misspeak
Verb
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An earlier version misstated his status.—
Kevin Breuninger,
CNBC,
11 Mar. 2025
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Due to the writer’s error, an earlier version of this story misstated and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association’s position on greenhouse gas emissions standards.—
Allen Best,
The Denver Post,
10 Mar. 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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In other cases, studies in the report were misrepresented, according to the researchers who conducted them.—
Brenda Goodman,
CNN Money,
29 May 2025
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Its job is to present your skills and experience—your career story—in the best possible light without misrepresenting your qualifications.—
Suzanne Blake,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 May 2025
Verb
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The cell phone camera has become both the tool humans use to perform and the reason that performance distorts even further in the eyes of others.—
CT Jones,
Rolling Stone,
21 May 2025
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Unfortunately, this racial lens merely distorts the rivalry narrative, transforming what should be celebrated as an engaging competitive dynamic into something unnecessarily contentious.—
Lindsey Darvin,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2025
Verb
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The Limits of Expansion Since mathematicians began studying expander graphs in the 1960s, they’ve been used to model the brain (opens a new tab), perform statistical analyses, and build error-correcting codes — encrypted messages that can be read even if they get garbled in transmission.—
Leila Sloman,
Quanta Magazine,
18 Apr. 2025
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Data-poisoning tools like Nightshade, which can garble some AI outputs, may be a more effective solution for concerned artists.—
Kate Irwin,
PCMAG,
8 Oct. 2024
Verb
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The district alleged that the documents were falsified.—
Tim Stelloh,
NBC news,
20 May 2025
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It was claimed that the signature of CBF vice-president Antonio Carlos Nunes de Lima was falsified on a document that strengthened Rodrigues’ hold on the federation’s presidency.—
Jack Lang,
New York Times,
16 May 2025
Verb
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Once cooked, the meatballs are tender, juicy, and absorb all the garlicky flavor of the sauce, which is rich from Parmesan cheese and nicely balance with a little acidity from wine.—
Jasmine Smith,
Southern Living,
30 May 2025
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In fact, at least one state is promoting methods to cook the fish as a way to control its population.—
Evan Moore,
Charlotte Observer,
30 May 2025
Verb
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Some firms, however, have more adaptable structures that allow for individual initiatives and self-managing networks of autonomous teams, that are assembled and dissembled as needs are met.—
Joe McKendrick,
Forbes.com,
26 Apr. 2025
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The Kill or Capture Presidency You’d like your government to tell you the truth, and the government dissembled repeatedly after the raid about what the rules of engagement were.—
Aryeh Neier,
The New York Review of Books,
3 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Misspeak.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misspeak. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
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