misnomer
nounEtymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English misnoumer (“(law) mistaken identification of a person; plea based on such misidentification”), from Anglo-Norman mesnomer, a noun use of Anglo-Norman mesnomer, mesnommer, and Old French mesnomer, mesnommer (“to name incorrectly”), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly, wrongly’) + nomer, nommer (“to name”) (from Latin nōmināre, the present active infinitive of nōminō (“to name”), from nōmen (“name”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)). The verb is derived from the noun.
Definitions
A mistake in the naming of a person or place
A mistake in the naming of a person or place; a misidentification.
An incorrect use of a term, especially one which is misleading
An incorrect use of a term, especially one which is misleading; a misname.
- […] plaintiff's misstyling himself as corporation in initial complaint constituted case of misnomer.
A term which is misleading, even if firmly established, technically correct, or both.
- The name Chinese checkers is a misnomer since the game has nothing to do with China.
- The word blackboard as applied to green or brown chalkboards is a misnomer but is not incorrect, as the broad sense of the word is idiomatic.
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Something which is asserted not to be true
Something which is asserted not to be true; a mistaken belief, a falsehood, a myth.
- It’s a misnomer that all doctors have bad handwriting.
To use an incorrect, and especially misleading, name for (someone or something)
To use an incorrect, and especially misleading, name for (someone or something); to misidentify, to misname.
The neighborhood
- neighborcatachresis
- neighbormalapropism
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for misnomer. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA