misrepresentation

From mis- +‎ representation or misrepresent +‎ -ation.

• IPA^(key): /mɪsˌɹɛpɹɪzɛnˈteɪʃən/

  Audio (US):

  (file)

  Rhymes: -eɪʃən

misrepresentation (countable and uncountable, plural misrepresentations)

1. Erroneous or false representation; an unfair or dishonest account or exposition; a false statement.

   Hypernyms: falsehood, untruth

   Hyponyms: misreport, misstatement

   Near-synonyms: mischaracterization, misportrayal

   • 1878, Samuel Butler, Life and Habit, London: Trübner & Co., page 1:

     […] for unless a matter be true enough to stand a good deal of misrepresentation, its truth is not of a very robust order, […]

   • 2003, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, Harold Tarrant, The Last Days of Socrates, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 39:

     I was especially astonished at one of their many misrepresentations: the point where they told you that you must be careful not to let me deceive you, implying that I am a skillful speaker.

2. Incorrect or unfaithful representation in the capacity of agent or official representative, such as of a principal in a matter of business, or of constituents in legislation.
3. (cartography) Faultiness in a map projection, estimated with regard to its unequal scale in different parts and to its distortion of angles.

• misrepresent
• misrepresentative
• misrepresenter

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “misrepresentation”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• representationism