Misdated

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /mɪsˈdeɪtɪd/

Definitions

1. Marked with a date that is not the correct or intended one
2. Assigned a false or mistaken date that does not correspond to the true time
3. Given a date that is inaccurate or erroneous, differing from the actual chronological label

Etymology: "Misdated" is the past participle of "misdate", and its story is simply that of its two parts. The prefix "mis-" comes from Old English, where it meant "wrongly" or "amiss," and it has been attached to English verbs for over a thousand years, as in "misspell" or "misunderstand." The base word is "date," which entered English in the Middle Ages through Old French "date," itself borrowed from Late Latin "data," the feminine form of "datus," meaning "given." The Latin root traces back to "dare," "to give," so a date was originally a fixed point that someone had given or set. Putting the two together gives "to assign a wrong date to something." The adjective describes a document, letter, photograph or object that bears an incorrect date, whether through a clerical slip or a deliberate falsehood. Because "mis-" was a productive English prefix, the formation needed no special coinage; it is a transparent compound that speakers could build as needed.

Synonyms: incorrectly dated, misdated