mischaracterize
verb
mis·char·ac·ter·ize ˌmis-ˈker-ik-tə-ˌrīz 
-ˈka-rik-
mischaracterized; mischaracterizing
transitive verb
: to characterize (someone or something) wrongly
mischaracterized his position on the issue
In many cases, the problems that the news media, activists, and politicians hype are real enough; however they are frequently greatly exaggerated and mischaracterized …
Benjamin Radford
Benjamin Radford
Word History
First Known Use
1798, in the meaning defined above