mislead
[verb]
Synonyms: deceive, delude, fool, hoodwink, misdirect, misguide, misinform, take in (informal)

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Related Words: lie, misguide, misinform, entice, inveigle, lure, seduce, tempt

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English Thesaurus: deceive, trick, fool, mislead, dupe, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

mis‧lead /ˌmɪsˈliːd/ verb (past tense and past participle misled /-ˈled/) [transitive]
to make someone believe something that is not true by giving them information that is false or not complete
mislead somebody about/over something
Politicians have misled the public over the dangers of these chemicals.
Don’t be misled by appearances, he’s a good worker.
mislead somebody into believing/thinking etc something
Don’t be misled into thinking that scientific research is easy.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

mislead
verb
ADV. seriously | completely, totally | slightly | actively, deliberately She was accused of deliberately misleading Parliament.
allegedly | easily They were naive and easily misled.
VERB + MISLEAD attempt to, try to | be liable to Statistics taken on their own are liable to mislead.
PREP. about Parliament has been totally misled about this affair.
into The company misled hundreds of people into investing their money unwisely.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

deceive especially written to make someone who trusts you believe something that is not true:
This was a deliberate attempt to deceive the public.
trick to make someone believe something that is not true, in order to get something from them or make them do something:
A man posing as an insurance agent had tricked her out of thousands of dollars.
fool to make someone believe something that is not true by using a clever but simple trick:
His hairpiece doesn’t fool anyone.
mislead to make people believe something that is not true, by deliberately not giving them all the facts, or by saying something that is only partly true:
The company was accused of misleading customers about the nutritional value of the product.
dupe informal to trick or deceive someone, especially so that they become involved in someone else’s dishonest activity without realizing it:
The spies duped government and military officials alike.
con informal to trick someone, especially by telling them something that is not true:
I’m pretty good at judging people; I didn’t think he was trying to con me.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

lie/tell a lie to deliberately tell someone something that is not true:
She had lied to protect her son.
Are you accusing me of telling lies?
fib verb [intransitive] informal to lie, especially about something that is not very important – used especially by children:
Dan’s fibbing. I didn’t hit him.
make something up/invent something to invent a story, explanation etc in order to deceive someone:
I didn’t want to go so I made up an excuse and said I was busy.
He invented the tale to prevent his parents from finding out the truth.
mislead verb [transitive] to make someone believe something that is not true by giving them false or incomplete information:
The government misled the public over the war.
be economical with the truth to only tell someone part of the truth – often used when saying indirectly that someone is lying:
He admitted that he had perhaps been economical with the truth.
perjure yourself/commit perjury to tell a lie in a court of law:
He had perjured himself in court.
Witnesses will be prosecuted if they commit perjury.
tell (somebody) a lie
He got into trouble for telling a lie.
believe a lie
How could you believe his lies?
spread lies (=tell them to a lot of people)
How dare you spread such vicious lies?
a complete/total/outright lie (=something that is completely untrue)
Of course the whole thing was a complete lie.
She didn't want to tell her mother an outright lie.
a white lie (=a small lie that you tell someone for good reasons, for example to avoid hurting their feelings)
We all have to tell white lies sometimes.
a downright lie (=used when something is a clearly a lie, especially when you feel annoyed)
That's a downright lie. I never said any such thing!
a vicious lie (=one that is very unkind and very untrue)
He told the court that it was a vicious lie from beginning to end.
a blatant lie (=an obvious lie)
He felt sure Adams was not convinced by such blatant lies.
a barefaced lie British English, a bald-faced lie American English (=an obvious lie that is told with no sense of shame)
How can you stand there and tell me such a barefaced lie?
an elaborate lie
Her parents didn’t realise that it was all an elaborate lie.
a big lie
The lawyer said it was a ‘big lie’ that Jones had not received the message.
a pack of lies informal (also a tissue of lies British English formal) (=a lot of lies)
Everything he had told me was a pack of lies.
lie noun [countable] something you say or write that you know is untrue:
Would you tell lies to protect a friend?
The allegation is a complete lie.
white lie noun [countable] informal a lie that you tell to avoid upsetting someone:
We all tell white lies sometimes.
porky noun [countable usually plural] British English informal a lie – a very informal use:
He’s been telling porkies again.
falsehood noun [countable] formal a statement that is not true, especially one that is intended to give people the wrong idea about someone or something:
He described the allegations as malicious falsehoods.
untruth noun [countable] formal a lie – used especially when you want to avoid saying the word lie:
Some workers go off and tell untruths about the organisations for which they are working.
fabrication noun [uncountable and countable] formal a story or claim that someone has invented in order to deceive someone, or the act of doing this:
The claim was described as a fabrication by the police prosecutor.
He dismissed the charges as pure fabrication.
libel noun [uncountable] law the crime of writing lies that could make people have a bad opinion of someone, especially in a newspaper or magazine:
She sued the newspaper for libel.
libel laws
slander noun [uncountable and countable] law the crime of speaking lies that could make people have a bad opinion of someone, or an untrue statement which does this:
He’s threatening to sue them for slander.
a slander on the good name of the company
Linking his name to terrorism was a slander.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

lie noun [countable] something you say or write that you know is untrue:
Would you tell lies to protect a friend?
The allegation is a complete lie.
white lie noun [countable] informal a lie that you tell to avoid upsetting someone:
We all tell white lies sometimes.
fib noun [countable] informal a lie, especially about something that is not very important – used especially by children:
Have you been telling fibs?
porky noun [countable usually plural] British English informal a lie – a very informal use:
He’s been telling porkies again.
falsehood noun [countable] formal a statement that is not true, especially one that is intended to give people the wrong idea about someone or something:
He described the allegations as malicious falsehoods.
untruth noun [countable] formal a lie – used especially when you want to avoid saying the word lie:
Some workers go off and tell untruths about the organisations for which they are working.
fabrication noun [uncountable and countable] formal a story or claim that someone has invented in order to deceive someone, or the act of doing this:
The claim was described as a fabrication by the police prosecutor.
He dismissed the charges as pure fabrication.
libel noun [uncountable] law the crime of writing lies that could make people have a bad opinion of someone, especially in a newspaper or magazine:
She sued the newspaper for libel.
libel laws
slander noun [uncountable and countable] law the crime of speaking lies that could make people have a bad opinion of someone, or an untrue statement which does this:
He’s threatening to sue them for slander.
a slander on the good name of the company
Linking his name to terrorism was a slander.
lie/tell a lie to deliberately tell someone something that is not true:
She had lied to protect her son.
Are you accusing me of telling lies?
make something up/invent something to invent a story, explanation etc in order to deceive someone:
I didn’t want to go so I made up an excuse and said I was busy.
He invented the tale to prevent his parents from finding out the truth.
mislead verb [transitive] to make someone believe something that is not true by giving them false or incomplete information:
The government misled the public over the war.
be economical with the truth to only tell someone part of the truth – often used when saying indirectly that someone is lying:
He admitted that he had perhaps been economical with the truth.
perjure yourself/commit perjury to tell a lie in a court of law:
He had perjured himself in court.
Witnesses will be prosecuted if they commit perjury.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲