mis ‧ rep ‧ re ‧ sent /ˌmɪsreprɪˈzent/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
to deliberately give a wrong description of someone’s opinions or of a situation:
These statistics grossly misrepresent the reality.
—misrepresentation /ˌmɪsreprɪzenˈteɪʃ ə n/ noun [uncountable and countable] :
a misrepresentation of the truth
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THESAURUS
■ to change something in order to deceive people
▪ distort to explain facts, statements etc in a way that makes them seem different from what they really are:
The judge said that she had deliberately tried to distort the facts.
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Don’t try to distort the truth.
▪ twist to dishonestly change the meaning of a piece of information or of something that someone has said, in order to get an advantage for yourself or to support your own opinion:
He accused reporters of twisting his words.
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In her article she twisted the meaning of what I said.
▪ misrepresent to give people a wrong idea about someone or their opinions, by what you write or say:
I hope I have not misrepresented her opinion.
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He’s taking legal action to stop the film, claiming it grossly misrepresents him.