misinformation

Etymology

It is formed from English mis- + information, after the verb misinform.^[2][3][4] Johnson (1755) derived it from misinform.^[5] The verb is recorded from before 1393, in Gower's “Confessio Amantis”,^[2] and is inherited from Middle English misenfourmen, formed from mis- and enfourmen (“to inform”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of misinforming someone, or the state of being misinformed: 1587, in the new edition of Holinshed's Chronicles.^[2][7] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1580s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense "wrong or misleading information" followed in 1605,^[2][7] where the OED's first edition and Etymonline had dated it only to the 1660s.^[3] From about 1615 the word could also mean a single item of false information, with a plural misinformations;^[2] the Century Dictionary quoted Bacon's Advice to Villiers for this use.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "false intelligence; false accounts".^[5] Modern dictionaries define it as false or inaccurate information,^[8][9] the Oxford Dictionary of English adding that it is especially information meant to deceive.^[9]

Timeline

• 1587 – the action of misinforming; the state of being misinformed.^[2][7]
• 1605 – wrong or misleading information.^[2][7]
• c. 1615 – a single item or instance of misinformation.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. False or inaccurate information, whether or not it is meant to deceive: The rumours spread a good deal of misinformation about the new law.^[9][8][2]
2. The act of giving someone wrong information, or the state of having been wrongly informed.^[2][3]

Related words

• misinform
• information
• inform
• disinformation

Usage notes

Some dictionaries stress that misinformation is often deliberately intended to deceive,^[9] while others define it simply as wrong or misleading information.^[2][8] The more specific disinformation, deliberately false information spread especially by a government, is recorded from 1955 and probably comes from Russian; the OED compares it with misinformation.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Whitney, William Dwight, ed. (1889–1891), The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, New York: The Century Co. (1901 printing)
5. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b c The World Book Dictionary (2015), Chicago: World Book
9. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press