mis ‧ guid ‧ ed /mɪsˈɡaɪdəd, mɪsˈɡaɪdɪd/ BrE AmE adjective
1 . intended to be helpful but in fact making a situation worse:
He described the government’s economic policy as misguided.
a misguided attempt to bring her parents back together
2 . a misguided idea or opinion is wrong because it is based on a wrong understanding of a situation:
His parents still clung to the misguided belief that his common sense would keep him out of serious trouble.
—misguidedly adverb :
The company misguidedly thought that expansion was the best way to survive.
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THESAURUS
▪ wrong not correct or right – used about facts, answers etc, or people:
For every wrong answer, you lose five points.
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The figure he gave me was wrong.
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I think you’re wrong about that.
▪ incorrect something that is incorrect is wrong because someone has made a mistake. Incorrect is more formal than wrong :
I’m afraid these prices are incorrect.
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The doctor had made an incorrect diagnosis.
▪ inaccurate something that is inaccurate is not exactly right and contains mistakes:
inaccurate information
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inaccurate measurements
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The old maps were often inaccurate.
▪ false not based on true facts:
Are the following statements true or false?
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He was accused of giving false information to the police.
▪ untrue [not usually before noun] not based on true facts, especially because someone is lying or guessing:
I can’t believe he said that about me. It’s completely untrue!
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The allegations were untrue.
▪ misleading a misleading statement or piece of information makes people believe something that is wrong, especially because it does not give all the facts:
The article was very misleading.
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misleading statistics
▪ misguided a misguided decision, belief, action etc is wrong because it is based on bad judgement or understanding:
That decision seems misguided now.
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It was the consequence of a misguided economic policy.
▪ mistaken wrong – used about ideas and beliefs. Also used about a person being wrong. You’re mistaken sounds more polite and less direct than saying you’re wrong :
She’s completely mistaken if she thinks that I don’t care about her.
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a mistaken belief