misinformation n : information that is incorrect

English

Noun

1. Information that is incorrect.

Misinformation is wrong or inaccurate information. It is distinguished from disinformation by motive. Misinformation is simply erroneous. Disinformation, in contrast, is intended to mislead.

Makkai proposes the distinction between misinformation and disinformation to be a defining characteristic of idioms in the English language. An utterance is only idiomatic if it involves disinformation, where the listener can decode the utterance in a logical, and lexically correct, yet erroneous way. Where the listener simply decodes the lexemes incorrectly, the utterance is simply misinformation, and not idiomatic.

Damian Thompson defines "counterknowlege" as "misinformation packaged to look like fact".

References

Futher reading

• Competitive Intelligence: Gathering, Analysing And Putting It to Work — a case study of misinformation arising from simple error
• Conquest in Cyberspace: National Security and Information Warfare
• Idioms in English: A Pragmatic Analysis

See also

• Factoid
• Gossip
• Junk Science
• Rumor
• Social constructionism