The Collaborative International Dictionary
Misconceive \Mis`con*ceive"\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Misconceived; p. pr. & vb. n. Misconceiving.] To conceive wrongly; to interpret incorrectly; to receive a false notion of; to misunderstand; to misjudge; to misapprehend.
Those things which, for want of due consideration
heretofore, they have misconceived.
--Hooker.
Syn: To misapprehend; misunderstand; mistake.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
vb. to misunderstand
WordNet
v. interpret in the wrong way; "Don't misinterpret my comments as criticism"; "She misconstrued my remarks" [syn: misconstrue, misinterpret, misunderstand, misapprehend, be amiss]
Usage examples of "misconceive".
How entirely men misconceive the relation of style to thought may be seen in the replies they make when their writing is objected to, or in the ludicrous attempts of clumsy playfulness and tawdry eloquence when they wish to be regarded as writers.
His alarm lest I should misconceive his position with regard to his mistress, or question the propriety of her conduct, touched me particularly.
But Eveena could read my feelings in spite of my words, and knew that the pain she had given was too recent to allow me to misconceive her penitence.
You cannot misconceive my motives in making this not very agreeable communication.
But is it legitimate deliberately to misconceive the unknown that governs our life in order that we may reconstruct this mysterious background?
Americans and their foreign informants passionately misconceive together.
Let no one, while this System is still in its infancy, misconceive its character, belittle its significance or misrepresent its purpose.
But through inveterate self-blindness the First Men are doomed to misconceive themselves in the light of a physical nature, which, also through self-blindness, they must misconceive.
If knighthood misconceived King Arthur then, men do not misconceive him now.
God hangs the righteousness of the moral system embracing all souls everywhere, and to misconceive or misinterpret God, sins against the highest interests of the world, since life never rises higher than the divinity it conceives and worships.
Him misconceive, suppose this Caliban strives hard and ails no less, would you have him hurt?
Paris, apathy which seeks stimulation, lament without talent, a mimicry of strength, the venom of past disappointments which excites to cynicism, and spits upon all that enlarges and grows, misconceives all necessary authority, rejoicing in its embarrassments, and will not hold to any social form.
The golden age left behind it only a lovely and incredible tradition, and a set of principles which, though now sadly misconceived, were still the best influences in a distraught world.
But, independently of all general principles, Miss Dacre could not but believe that it was the duty of the Catholic gentry to mix more with that world which so misconceived their spirit.
I judged them to be misconceived in theory and unworkable in practice.