misdiagnose

IPA/ˌmɪsdaɪəɡˈnəʊz/
KK[mɪsdˌaɪɪɡnˈoz]IPA/ˌmɪsdaɪəɡˈnəʊz/

misdiagnose — verb

  • misdiagnose,,present simple I / you / we / they
  • misdiagnosepresent simple I / you / we / they
  • misdiagnoses,,he / she / it
  • misdiagnoseshe / she / it
  • misdiagnosed,,past simple
  • misdiagnosedpast simple
  • misdiagnosing,,-ing form
  • misdiagnosing-ing form

1. to wrongly decide which illness or medical condition a patient has, telling them

1.動詞及物C1
釋義

to wrongly decide which illness or medical condition a patient has, telling them they have one thing when really they have another.

例句

Doctors at the small clinic misdiagnosed Saira's asthma as a chest cold for nearly a year.

misdiagnose + [condition A] as [condition B]

Caleb was misdiagnosed with anxiety, but the real problem was an overactive thyroid.

passive: be misdiagnosed with + [condition]

同義詞
  • misidentify

    more general; covers any wrong identification, not specifically illness

  • mistake (for)

    everyday verb; 'mistake X for Y' often used by patients describing what happened

反義詞

文法句型

misdiagnose + someone

misdiagnose + someone + as having + condition

be misdiagnosed with + condition

用法筆記

Subject is usually a doctor, hospital, or medical system; object is the patient or the illness. Frequently passive in news and research writing, where the patient is the topic.

常見錯誤

❌The doctor mis-diagnosed Theo.
✅The doctor misdiagnosed Theo.
💡written as one word, no hyphen.
❌My headaches were misdiagnosed by a wrong doctor.
✅My headaches were misdiagnosed by an inexperienced doctor.
💡'misdiagnose' already means the decision was wrong, so 'wrong doctor' is redundant; describe the doctor instead.

2. to give a wrong explanation of what is causing a problem, or to wrongly say what

2.動詞及物C1
釋義

to give a wrong explanation of what is causing a problem, or to wrongly say what kind of thing or person something is, outside the medical sense.

例句

Analysts had misdiagnosed the company's losses as a marketing failure when the real cause was supply-chain delays.

misdiagnose + [problem] as + [wrong cause]

Kenji argued that politicians keep misdiagnosing rural poverty as a problem of laziness instead of missing jobs.

common in policy/social commentary

同義詞
  • misread

    less formal; works for situations and signals (misread the market)

  • misinterpret

    focuses on understanding evidence wrongly, not on naming the cause

文法句型

misdiagnose + [problem]

misdiagnose + [problem] + as + [cause]

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 1: here the object is a non-medical problem (an economic loss, a social trend, a sports slump). Subject is typically an analyst, official, or institution speaking in a quasi-expert voice.

常見錯誤

❌The mechanic misdiagnosed my car.
✅The mechanic wrongly identified the problem with my car.
💡for everyday non-medical contexts (cars, appliances), 'misdiagnose' sounds formal; native speakers usually say 'wrongly identify the problem' or 'get the diagnosis wrong'.