misguided

• IPA^(key): /mɪsˈɡaɪdɪd/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

misguided (comparative more misguided, superlative most misguided)

1. Ill-conceived or not thought through.
   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 September 2013:

     I believe in freedom of movement and view the current government’s restrictive attitude as both socially and economically misguided. Yet I fear that a special London policy will only exacerbate existing divisions.

2. Misled or mistaken.
3. Lacking proper guidance.
   • 2001, “Poor Misguided Fool”, in Love Is Here, performed by Starsailor:

     You're just a poor misguided fool
     Who thinks they know what I should do
     A line for me and a line for you
     I lose my right to a point of view.

   • 2024 May 11, John Thornhill, quoting Martin Luther King Jr, “More than human?”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 8:

     Martin Luther King Jr's 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on the need for moral intervention should be taped to every tech CEO's wall: “When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.”

• (lacking proper guidance): stray, straying, erring, errant, confused, off course

misguided

1. simple past and past participle of misguide