misrepresent

Everyday

1. To misrepresent someone or something means to describe them in a false or unfair way, so others get the wrong idea. tree →
2. To misrepresent yourself means to pretend to be something you are not, such as lying about your age online. tree →

In the lessons

In citizenship and media lessons about news, adverts and quoting people fairly; in online safety, people may misrepresent who they are. Phrases: «misrepresent the facts», «be misrepresented», «misrepresent someone's words».

Examples

• The advert misrepresented how big the toy was. tree →
• Don't misrepresent what your friend said. tree →
• The newspaper misrepresented the facts. tree →
• People online sometimes misrepresent themselves. tree →
• She felt misrepresented by the story about her. tree →
• Leaving out the bad parts can misrepresent the truth. tree →
• The graph misrepresented the numbers by starting at fifty. tree →
• Checking sources helps us spot when news misrepresents events. tree →

Note

Regular verb. Mis + represent: «mis» means wrongly. In maths, a graph can misrepresent data if the axis does not start at zero or the scale is uneven.