misleading
- misleading, deceptive, delusive, delusory all mean having an appearance or character that leads one astray or into error.Misleading is the general term applicable to something which, intentionally or otherwise, leads one away from the right course or direction in thought or action and, therefore, into confusion or error{
the bare statement that "art is useless" is so vague as to be really meaningless, if not inaccurate and misleading— Ellis
}{it is not necessary to prove an injury to a competitor to stop misleading advertising; it may be stopped merely because it is unfair and deceptive— Fisk & Snapp
}Deceptive applies chiefly to things that by their aspect or appearance give a false impression; the term need not imply the intention to deceive{deceptive solemnity
}{a deceptive air of innocence
}{while the communication was deceptive and so intended, it was not technically mendacious— S.H. Adams
}Delusive and delusory, though otherwise similar to deceptive, carry a strong implication of befooling or cheating as well as misleading{delusive hopes
}{delusory promises
}{it is important for this Court to avoid extracting from the very general language of the Fourteenth Amendment a system of delusive exactness— Justice Holmes
}{arguments for universal selfishness seemed to fall short of complete proof and some of them appeared quite delusive and logically fallacious— Garvin
}{dangerously delusory habits of relying on industrial potential per se as a bulwark in war—C. B. Marshall
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
Look at other dictionaries:
misleading — UK US /mɪsˈliːdɪŋ/ adjective ► causing someone to believe something that is not true: »The instructions were confusing and even misleading in some cases. misleading advertisements/advertising/adverts »The credit company has been criticized by the … Financial and business terms
misleading — adj: possessing the capacity or tendency to create a mistaken understanding or impression compare deceptive, fraudulent Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 … Law dictionary
Misleading — Mis*lead ing, a. Leading astray; delusive. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
misleading — (adj.) 1630s, prp. adjective from MISLEAD (Cf. mislead) … Etymology dictionary
misleading — [adj] deceptive, confusing ambiguous, beguiling, bewildering, casuistical, catchy, confounding, deceitful, deceiving, deluding, delusive, delusory, demagogic, disingenuous, distracting, evasive, fallacious, false, inaccurate, perplexing, puzzling … New thesaurus
misleading — 01. Their advertising is somewhat [misleading] because they suggest that they will pay the taxes, but actually, the price is so high that it includes the cost of the tax anyway. 02. The politician [misled] the public into thinking he would reduce … Grammatical examples in English
misleading — adj. 1) grossly misleading 2) misleading to + inf. (it is misleading to cite only certain sources) * * * [mɪs liːdɪŋ] grossly misleading misleading to + inf. (it is misleading to cite only certain sources) … Combinatory dictionary
misleading — adj. VERBS ▪ be ADVERB ▪ extremely, fairly, very, etc. ▪ grossly, highly, positively … Collocations dictionary
misleading — mis|lead|ing [mısˈli:dıŋ] adj likely to make someone believe something that is not true ▪ The article was misleading, and the newspaper has apologized. seriously/highly/grossly etc misleading ▪ These figures are highly misleading.… … Dictionary of contemporary English
misleading — [[t]mɪ̱sli͟ːdɪŋ[/t]] ADJ GRADED: oft it v link ADJ to inf If you describe something as misleading, you mean that it gives you a wrong idea or impression. It would be misleading to say that we were friends... The article contains several… … English dictionary
