What does misquoted mean?
Misquoted is the past tense and past participle of misquote, meaning to reproduce someone’s words inaccurately. A speaker may be misquoted when a journalist changes the order or wording of a statement, omits context, or introduces an error that changes the intended meaning. Sometimes people use it more broadly for any inaccurate representation, but its usual focus is on words attributed to another person. The term often appears in controversies involving newspapers, politicians, public figures, and online posts, where the exact wording of a statement matters. It is also related to the broader noun “misquotation,” which names an incorrect rendering of someone’s words. Because a quotation may be shortened or rearranged without technically being false, claiming that someone was misquoted usually implies more than a simple summary error: it suggests that the source’s actual words or meaning were not represented faithfully.
verbTo quote someone’s words inaccurately, changing the wording or meaning from the original source. It can also mean to attribute words to a person that they did not say.
- To reproduce or attribute someone’s words inaccurately.
"The newspaper was accused of misquoting the witness in its summary of the hearing."
"The article misquoted the professor’s explanation of the theory."
"Several posts were removed after users accused them of misquoting the interview."
A misquote can alter a speaker’s meaning without technically inventing a sentence: the words are real, but the context is not.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does misquoted come from?
The word combines the prefix “mis-,” meaning wrongly, with “quote.” “Quote” comes through Middle English from Latin “quot,” a word associated with “how many,” while “quotation” developed later from the same Latin root. The prefix “mis-” has long been used in English to form words indicating an incorrect action, and “misquote” applies that pattern to the precise reporting of another person’s words.
Related word forms
How misquoted is actually used
Common in journalism, politics, publishing, and online discussion. It usually implies a deliberate or consequential alteration, although it can also refer to an innocent error.
Easily confused with misquoted
“Misquoted” is a verb describing the act of quoting inaccurately, whereas “misquotation” is a noun for the inaccurate quotation or the error itself.