quoting out of context; taking a passage out of context
A yojijukugo describing the act of extracting a sentence or passage and interpreting it without considering the surrounding context, often leading to distortion of the original meaning.
His criticism is nothing more than quoting out of context.
その記事は発言を断章取義して誤解を招いた。
The article took the statement out of context and caused misunderstanding.