misrepresent

misrepresent — verb

1. to give a deliberately wrong or incomplete account of facts, someone's statement

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveC1
Definition

to give a deliberately wrong or incomplete account of facts, someone's statements, or events, usually with the aim of gaining something for yourself.

Example

The newspaper article completely misrepresented what the professor said about the new energy policy.

misrepresent + wh-clause (what + subject + said)

Lucía felt that the report misrepresented her views on the proposed changes.

Common collocations
  • misrepresent the facts
  • misrepresent someone's views
  • misrepresent the truth
  • misrepresent someone's words
  • misrepresent the situation
  • misrepresent oneself as
  • misrepresent the data
  • misrepresent the findings
Synonyms
  • distort

    emphasises changing the original shape or meaning of something, often physically or metaphorically; slightly less deliberate-sounding than 'misrepresent'

  • falsify

    more concrete and specific — usually refers to altering documents, records, or data; implies deliberate fraud

  • twist

    informal; suggests a clever but unfair manipulation of someone's words to make them mean something else

  • bend

    less severe than 'misrepresent'; suggests stretching the truth rather than fully breaking it

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

misrepresent + noun phrase

misrepresent + noun phrase + as + noun phrase/adjective

misrepresent + oneself + as + noun phrase

misrepresent + wh-clause (what/how/why)

Usage Note

Common in formal, legal, and journalistic contexts. The pattern 'misrepresent + something/someone + as + noun/adjective' is frequent for describing false claims about identity or status: 'He misrepresented the situation as safe and under control.' The passive voice ('was misrepresented') is also very common in reporting contexts.

Common Mistakes

The journalist misrepresented about the facts in the article.
The journalist misrepresented the facts in the article.
'misrepresent' is a transitive verb and does not take the preposition 'about'.
She misrepresented that the project was finished.
She misrepresented the project's status by saying it was finished.
'misrepresent' is not normally followed directly by a 'that'-clause; use a noun phrase instead.

Word family

  • misrepresentation
    nounC1
  • misrepresented
    adjectiveC1
  • misrepresenting
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four verbs involve presenting information inaccurately, but they differ in scope and connotation. Misrepresent is the broadest, often used in formal or legal settings to describe giving a false account of someone's words, views, or facts. Distort often suggests changing the original form or meaning — a distorted image or a distorted version of events — and does not always imply deliberate deception. Falsify is more concrete, usually involving the alteration of documents, records, or numerical data with clear intent to deceive. Twist is the most informal and implies a clever, unfair manipulation of someone's words or intentions. For example: 'The article misrepresented her stance on immigration.' 'The audio file had been deliberately distorted.' 'He was arrested for falsifying expense claims.' 'The journalist twisted my comment to make it sound offensive.'

distort ↗falsifytwist ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • misrepresent the nature of something
  • misrepresent the extent of something

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Formed in the 15th century by adding the prefix 'mis-' (meaning wrongly or badly) to the verb 'represent', which comes from Latin 'repraesentare' (to show, present, or bring to mind). The word has always carried the sense of presenting something in a false or distorted way.