misdirection

Other forms: misdirections

If you give someone mistaken guidance or instructions, that's misdirection, like when you tell a tourist the wrong route to find a museum.

Another type of misdirection is the kind magicians use when they draw your attention away from their sleight of hand. By directing an audience's focus to a magic wand waving in the air, a good magician can make it seem like a rabbit has suddenly appeared in their hat. Pickpockets use a similar kind of misdirection, steering a victim's attention away from the hand that's sliding into their pocket and grabbing their wallet.

Definitions of misdirection

1. noun

   incorrect directions or instructions
   type of:

   direction, instruction

   a message describing how something is to be done
2. noun

   management that is careless or inefficient
   synonyms: mismanagement

   types:

   screwup

   the complete mismanagement or mishandling of a situation

   type of:

   direction, management

   the act of managing something
3. noun

   the act of distracting; drawing someone's attention away from something
   “conjurers are experts at misdirection”

   synonyms: distraction

   type of:

   alteration, revision

   the act of revising or altering (involving reconsideration and modification)
4. noun

   an incorrect charge to a jury given by a judge
   type of:

   charge, commission, direction, mandate

   a formal statement of a command or injunction to do something