Meaning & use
misconception
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Meaning
nouncountable
An idea or belief that is wrong because someone has understood something badly.
Grammar: Often followed by about or that: a misconception about vaccines.
Patterns
- a misconception about something
- a misconception that something
- labor under a misconception
It is a common misconception that goldfish only remember things for three seconds.
Many students start the course with a misconception about how electricity works.
The article aims to clear up misconceptions about the disease.
Word forms
| plural | misconceptions |
|---|
Common combinations
- common misconception
- It's a common misconception that lightning never strikes twice.
- popular misconception
- Despite the popular misconception, bats are not blind.
- dispel a misconception
- The teacher used a demonstration to dispel the misconception.
- correct a misconception
- She wrote the letter to correct a misconception about her work.
- labor under a misconception
- He was laboring under the misconception that the meeting was optional.
- widespread misconception
- There is a widespread misconception about how much sleep adults need.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fallacy
- A fallacy often means an error in reasoning or a false but popular belief, and it sounds more formal and logical than misconception.
- myth
- A myth is a false belief that is widely repeated, while a misconception can be held by just one person.
- misunderstanding
- A misunderstanding is usually a single mix-up in a particular situation, whereas a misconception is a lasting wrong idea.
- delusion
- Delusion is stronger and suggests a false belief held despite clear evidence, while a misconception can be corrected easily.
Opposites
Word family
- misconceive verb
- to understand something wrongly
- misconceived adjective
- based on a wrong idea, as in a misconceived plan
- conception noun
- an understanding or idea of something
- preconception noun
- an opinion formed before knowing the facts
Commonly confused: misconception or preconception?
misconception vs preconception
A preconception is an opinion formed in advance, which may or may not be wrong. A misconception is a belief that is actually mistaken.
Practice
There is a ___ that people use only ten percent of their brains, although scans show otherwise.
Choose one answer.
A misconception is a wrong belief based on faulty understanding. A preconception is formed in advance and is not necessarily false, so it is less precise here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “misconception”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.