MEANING
To give an inaccurate account of the nature, qualities or position of someone or something.
Use it for
correcting an inaccurate portrayal of an argument; challenging a misleading description of a finding; distinguishing a position from a distorted summary; showing that someone’s motives have been described wronglyChallenges an inaccurate portrayal of a position or subject without assuming deliberate deception. Writing functions: Argumentation.
Words that belong together
- mischaracterize a position
- mischaracterize a finding
- mischaracterize someone’s motives
On the page
The response mischaracterizes the proposal as a ban, although it would only require additional disclosure.
Describing all nonparticipants as apathetic mischaracterizes the range of reasons they gave.
Word forms
- Base
- mischaracterize
- Past tense
- mischaracterized
- Past participle
- mischaracterized
- Present participle
- mischaracterizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- mischaracterize
- Present continuous
- am/is/are mischaracterizing
- Present perfect
- have/has mischaracterized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been mischaracterizing
- Past
- mischaracterized
- Past continuous
- was/were mischaracterizing
- Past perfect
- had mischaracterized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been mischaracterizing
- Future
- will mischaracterize
- Future continuous
- will be mischaracterizing
- Future perfect
- will have mischaracterized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been mischaracterizing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Transitive: mischaracterize, mischaracterizes, mischaracterized, mischaracterized, mischaracterizing; future will mischaracterize. UK mischaracterise is an alias. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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