misled
Sent astray purposefully
Misled is the past tense of mislead—to guide someone toward a wrong conclusion or action, whether through deception or honest error.
The witness misled the jury.
I was misled by the confusing signage.
The word implies the person who was misled bears less fault than whoever or whatever did the misleading.
Misled into false belief
- dupedDeceived into believing
- trickedMisled by cunning
- fooledLed to believe falsely
- hoodwinkedTricked into believing falsely
bamboozled · conned · swindled · manipulated · beguiled · taken in · led astray · double-crossed
Unable to understand
- mistakenIncorrectly understood or believed
- misinformedGiven incorrect facts
- misguidedBased on poor judgment
- disorientedLacking sense of direction
bewildered · perplexed · deluded · wrong idea · misconception · misunderstanding · misapprehension · false belief
Intentional deceptive falsehoods
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- fake newsIntentionally deceptive media content
- liesDeliberate untruths
- falsehoodsDeliberate untruths
distortion · fabrication · spin · untruth · canard · misreporting · false claims · half-truths
Assessed incorrectly
- miscalculatedComputed incorrectly
- misreadInterpret text incorrectly
- misinterpretedUnderstood incorrectly
- wrong conclusionErroneous inference from evidence
faulty reasoning · poor judgment · oversight · blunder · false premise · flawed logic · mistaken belief · erroneous
Mentally manipulated into compliance
- indoctrinatedTaught beliefs uncritically
- influencedChanged by external pressure
- swayedMoved or persuaded
- coercedPressured into compliance
pressured · exploited · gaslighted · conditioned · programmed · groomed · persuaded · seduced
deceived
Misled into false belief
hoodwinked · bamboozled · conned · swindled · manipulated · beguiled · taken in · led astray · double-crossed · betrayed
confused
Unable to understand
- mistakenIncorrectly understood or believed
- misinformedGiven incorrect facts
- misguidedBased on poor judgment
disoriented · bewildered · perplexed · deluded · wrong idea · misconception · misunderstanding · misapprehension · false belief · mixed up
disinformation
Intentional deceptive falsehoods
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- fake newsIntentionally deceptive media content
- liesDeliberate untruths
falsehoods · distortion · fabrication · spin · untruth · canard · misreporting · false claims · half-truths · rumor
misjudged
Assessed incorrectly
- miscalculatedComputed incorrectly
- misreadInterpret text incorrectly
- misinterpretedUnderstood incorrectly
wrong conclusion · faulty reasoning · poor judgment · oversight · blunder · false premise · flawed logic · mistaken belief · erroneous · inaccurate
brainwashed
Mentally manipulated into compliance
- indoctrinatedTaught beliefs uncritically
- influencedChanged by external pressure
- swayedMoved or persuaded
coerced · pressured · exploited · gaslighted · conditioned · programmed · groomed · persuaded · seduced · lured
- dupeddeceived, tricked, fooled, conned, swindled
- Off Tracklost, detour, tangent, sidetrack, digression
- falsifiedfalsified, doctored, fabricated, fake, faked
- off targetoff target, off-target, off the mark, wide of the mark, wide
misledinformed
Given necessary knowledge
enlightened · set straight · educated · apprised · clued in
misledenlightened
Possessing profound insight
disillusioned · undeceived · disabused · informed · clear-eyed
- misleading advertisingPromotion using false claims
- misleading claimsAssertions intended to deceive
- misleading statementsClaims designed to deceive
- misleading headlinesTitles misrepresenting article content
- misleading labelsFalse product descriptions