mis·lead·ing

[mis-lee-ding]
adjective
deceptive; tending to mislead.
Origin:
1630–40; mislead + -ing2

Related forms
mis·lead·ing·ly, adverb
mis·lead·ing·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged

mis·lead

[mis-leed] verb, mis·led, mis·lead·ing.
verb (used with object)
1.
to lead or guide wrongly; lead astray.
2.
to lead into error of conduct, thought, or judgment.
verb (used without object)
3.
to be misleading; tend to deceive: vague directions that often mislead.
Origin:
before 1050; Middle English misleden, Old English mislǣdan. See mis-1, lead1

Related forms
mis·lead·er, noun
un·mis·led, adjective

Synonyms
1. misguide, misdirect. 2. delude, deceive.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To misleading
00:10
Misleading is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
mislead (mɪsˈliːd) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—vb , -leads, -leading, -led
1.  to give false or misleading information to
2.  to lead or guide in the wrong direction
 
mis'leader
 
—n

misleading (mɪsˈliːdɪŋ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—adj
tending to confuse or mislead; deceptive
 
misleadingly
 
—adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

mislead
O.E. mislædan, common Gmc. compound (cf. M.L.G., M.Du. misleiden, O.H.G. misseleiten, Ger. missleiten, Dan. mislede); see mis- (1) + lead (v.). Related: misleading; misled.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
Not to mention that the legal standards for proving that marketing is
  misleading or deceptive may be quite different from my own.
The actual focal length can be misleading because sensor sizes are different.
As neurologists who have examined her have explained, the snippets are
  profoundly misleading.
He gave a radio address demanding that executives should be criminally liable
  if they give intentionally misleading information.
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