Misleads

To cause someone to have a wrong idea or impression; to deceive or delude. This often involves presenting information in a way that is intentionally or unintentionally confusing, inaccurate, or incomplete, leading the recipient to draw false conclusions or make poor judgments. Misleading actions or statements can be subtle or blatant and are employed in various contexts, including communication, advertising, politics, and personal relationships. The consequences of being misled can range from minor inconveniences to serious harm, depending on the significance of the information and the decisions made based upon it.

Misleads meaning with examples

• The politician deliberately misleads voters with vague promises, sidestepping the difficult questions about policy changes by highlighting emotional arguments. This allows the public to interpret the words and statements in their own personal way, rather than based on facts. They get to choose how the promises will benefit them.
• The advertisement misleads consumers about the product's capabilities. It showed video game footage that was not actually from the handheld gaming device, using editing and special effects to show the graphic power.
• Her deceptive smile and exaggerated compliments misleads people into thinking she is genuinely friendly, when her actions suggest hidden agendas. This often leads to many misunderstandings and feelings of betrayal in the end.
• The study was critiqued for misleads, presenting biased data in a way that supported their pre-determined conclusion. This was accomplished by a biased approach in the experiment, and ignoring obvious inconsistencies with their data, which made the result of the study unreliable.
• His ambiguous email misleads his colleagues, as he was trying to appear to be supportive of their efforts while secretly undermining their projects. The subtle wording in the email gave the readers mixed messages, which was an indirect method to harm the project.