misnomer

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Quite why they felt the need to switch all three characters 'names to remedy the misnomer is anyone's guess.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An error in naming a person or place.
  2. noun Application of a wrong name.
  3. noun A name wrongly or unsuitably applied to a person or an object.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (48)

  • Quite why they felt the need to switch all three characters 'names to remedy the misnomer is anyone's guess. —  Empire News
  • It is said that many instruments having the name of Pique in them are the work of Lupot, and this misnomer is accounted for by the story that Pique purchased them in an unvarnished state, and varnished them with his preparation. —  The Violin Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators
  • When William the Conqueror came among us, and that stern rule of his began, there was scarcely a county in England and Wales in which one or more religious houses were not to be found, and during his reign of twenty-one years about thirty new monasteries of one sort or another were added to those already existing To begin with, the very word monastery is a misnomer: the word is a Greek word, and means the dwelling-place of a solitary person, living in seclusion. —  The Coming of the Friars
  • First off, the biggest misnomer is the news-reader idiom. —  AZspot
  • The title is something of a misnomer, as the ISSF only addresses tuna sustainability. —  Fast Company
 

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This word has been looked up 168 times.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English misnoumer, from Old French mesnomer, to misname : mes-, wrongly; see mis-1 + nommer, to name (from Latin nōmināre, from nōmen, name; see nŏ̄-men- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English *mesnomer, from Old French mesnomer, mesnommer, F. dial, ménomer, misname, from mes- + nomer, nommer, name, from Latin nominare, name: see mis- and nominate.
  2. from misnomer, n.
 

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/mɪsˈnoʊmər/
by American Heritage

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