Misdescribe

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To provide an account of something that inaccurately reflects its actual nature or features
2. To depict an event or object in a manner that misrepresents its true qualities or essence
3. To portray or explain something in a way that does not correctly represent the facts

Etymology: "Misdescribe" is a plain formation: the prefix "mis-", meaning wrongly or badly, attached to "describe." "Describe" itself comes from Latin "describere," which combined "de-" (down or off) with "scribere" (to write), so to describe was originally to write something out or delineate it in outline. The prefix "mis-" is native English, from Old English, and it has been freely attached to verbs for centuries to mark a failure of the action, as in "misjudge" or "mislead." Because "mis-" can join almost any verb, "misdescribe" was never a coinage that needed a famous author or a dramatic moment to exist. Its meaning follows directly from its parts: to describe something in a way that gets the facts, features or details wrong. The original Latin sense of drawing a line around something survives only faintly in the modern word, which now concerns accuracy of account rather than physical outline.

Synonyms: misstate, misrepresent

Antonyms: describe accurately, depict correctly