Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

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

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To designate by a mistaken or unsuitable name; misname.
  • noun A misnaming; the act of applying a wrong name or designation.
  • noun In law, an error in name; misstatement in a document of the name of a person.
  • noun Hence A mistaken name or designation; a misapplied term.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb rare To misname.
  • noun The misnaming of a person in a legal instrument, as in a complaint or indictment; any misnaming of a person or thing; a wrong or inapplicable name or title.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A use of a term asserted to be misleading; a misname.
  • noun A term asserted to be widely used incorrectly.
  • noun A term whose sense in common usage conflicts with a technical sense.
  • verb transitive  To use a misleading term; to misname.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an incorrect or unsuitable name

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman mesnomer, noun use of Anglo-Norman and Old French verb mesnomer ("to name incorrectly"), from mes- ("mis-") + nomer ("to name") (from Latin nōmināre).

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Examples

Comments

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  • What kind of animal is a titmouse?

    What country do Panama hats come from?

    What color is the red coral of the Mediterranean?

    March 2, 2009

  • Well, I know that Panama hats come from Ecuador. I'll leave the other two to greater Wordieminds.

    March 2, 2009

  • A titmouse is a bird.

    March 2, 2009

  • Red coral is actually red. Sometimes pink.

    March 2, 2009

  • a cute nice dog, named killer, is a misnomer.

    September 28, 2010

  • ...unless it's a cute nice dog which kills.

    September 29, 2010

  • Class 3 weapons are a misnomer. They are Class 2 weapons that you purchase from a Class 3 dealer.

    May 6, 2012