disinformation

English

WOTD – 18 September 2015

Etymology

Composed of dis- +‎ information, a calque of Russian дезинформа́ция (dezinformácija), a word coined by Joseph Stalin c. 1923 (see the Wikipedia article). Attested in this sense in English from 1939. A morphologically-identical "disinformation" occurred earlier as a simple synonym of misinformation. Doublet of dezinformatsiya, an unadapted borrowing from Russian.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪsɪnfəˈmeɪʃ(ə)n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪsˌɪnfɚˈmeɪʃən/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

disinformation (usually uncountable, plural disinformations)

1. False information intentionally disseminated to deliberately confuse or mislead; intentional misinformation.
2. Fabricated or deliberately manipulated content. Intentionally created conspiracy theories or rumors.

Verb

disinformation (third-person singular simple present disinformations, present participle disinformationing, simple past and past participle disinformationed)

1. (transitive) To use disinformation.

   A country cannot disinformation its way out of fallen soldiers.

Related terms

• dezinformatsiya
• disinform
• malinformation

 

Translations

intentionally false information

• Albanian: dezinformacion m
• Arabic: مَعْلُومَات مُضَلِّلَة f pl (maʕlūmāt muḍallila)
• Armenian: ապատեղեկատվություն (hy) (apateġekatvutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: dezinformasiya
• Belarusian: дэзінфарма́цыя f (dezinfarmácyja), дэзынфарма́цыя f (dezynfarmácyja)
• Bulgarian: дезинформа́ция f (dezinformácija)
• Catalan: desinformació f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 假情報／假情报 (jiǎqíngbào), 訛傳／讹传 (zh) (échuán), 謊報／谎报 (zh) (huǎngbào)

• Czech: dezinformace (cs) f
• Danish: misinformation c
• Dutch: desinformatie (nl) f
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: desinformatsioon
• Finnish: disinformaatio (fi), harhatiedotus
• French: désinformation (fr) f, mésinformation (fr) f
• Georgian: დეზინფორმაცია (dezinpormacia)
• German: Desinformation (de) f
• Greek: παραπληροφόρηση (el) f (paraplirofórisi)
• Hebrew: דִּיסְאִינְפוֹרְמַצְיָה (he) f (disinformátsya)
• Hindi: दुस्सूचना m (dussūcnā)
• Hungarian: dezinformáció (hu), félrevezetés (hu)
• Irish: bréagaisnéis f, bréageolas m
• Italian: disinformazione (it) f, controinformazione (it) f, misinformazione (it) f
• Japanese: 偽情報 (にせじょうほう, nisejōhō), 誤報 (ja) (ごほう, gohō)
• Kazakh: дезинформация (dezinformasiä)
• Khmer: ព័ត៌មានមិនពិត (pɔədɑɑmiən mɨn pɨt)
• Korean: 역정보(逆情報) (yeokjeongbo), 오보(誤報) (ko) (obo)
• Kyrgyz: дезинформация (dezinformatsiya)
• Latvian: dezinformācija f
• Lithuanian: dezinformacija f
• Macedonian: дезинформација f (dezinformacija)
• Malay: maklumat palsu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: desinformasjon m

  Nynorsk: desinformasjon m

• Persian: دروغ‌رسانی (dorôğ-resâni), دروغ‌پراکنی (dorôğ-parâkani)
• Polish: dezinformacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: desinformação (pt) f
• Romanian: dezinformație f, dezinformare (ro) f
• Russian: дезинформа́ция (ru) f (dezinformácija), де́за (ru) f (déza) (colloquial)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дезинформа́ција f

  Roman: dezinformácija (sh) f

• Slovak: dezinformácia f
• Slovene: dezinformácija f
• Spanish: desinformación (es) f
• Swedish: desinformation (sv) c
• Tajik: маълумоти дурӯғ (maʾlumoti durüġ)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: dezenformasyon (tr)
• Turkmen: dezinformasiýa
• Ukrainian: дезінформа́ція f (dezinformácija), дезінформува́ння n (dezinformuvánnja)
• Uzbek: dezinformatsiya
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• misinformation
• propaganda

 

Further reading

• “disinformation”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “disinformation, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “disinformation”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “disinformation”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “disinformation” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.