verb (used with object), mis·con·strued, mis·con·stru·ing. to misunderstand the meaning of; take in a wrong sense; misinterpret.

What does misconstrue mean?

transitive verb. 1 : to interpret (something, such as a statement or action) wrongly : misinterpret misconstrued her words/meaning/silence He does not want his real name used in the newspaper because even the most innocent statement could be misconstrued here and lead to trouble, he says.—

What is the difference between misconstrue and misunderstand?

As verbs the difference between misconstrue and misunderstand. is that misconstrue is to interpret erroneously, to understand incorrectly; to misunderstand while misunderstand is to understand incorrectly, while thinking one has understood correctly.