error
Americannoun
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errors
plural
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a deviation from accuracy or correctness; a mistake, as in action or speech.
His speech contained several factual errors.
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belief in something untrue; the holding of mistaken opinions.
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the condition of believing what is not true.
in error about the date.
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a moral offense; wrongdoing; sin.
- Synonyms:
- misdeed, trespass, transgression, fault
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Baseball. a misplay that enables a base runner to reach base safely or advance a base, or a batter to have a turn at bat prolonged, as the dropping of a ball batted in the air, the fumbling of a batted or thrown ball, or the throwing of a wild ball, but not including a passed ball or wild pitch.
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Mathematics. the difference between the observed or approximately determined value and the true value of a quantity.
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Law.
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a mistake in a matter of fact or law in a case tried in a court of record.
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Philately. a stamp distinguished by an error or errors in design, engraving, selection of inks, or setting up of the printing apparatus.
noun
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a mistake or inaccuracy, as in action or speech
a typing error
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an incorrect belief or wrong judgment
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the condition of deviating from accuracy or correctness, as in belief, action, or speech
he was in error about the train times
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deviation from a moral standard; wrongdoing
he saw the error of his ways
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maths statistics a measure of the difference between some quantity and an approximation to or estimate of it, often expressed as a percentage
an error of 5%
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statistics See type I error type II error
Synonym Usage
See mistake.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of error
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English errour, from Latin errōr-, stem of error, equivalent to err + -or 1
Explanation
"I'm sorry, sir, there's been some sort of error in the kitchen," is what a restaurant waiter might say to a patron who ordered the fish but was mistakenly served a plateful of worms instead. Simply put, an error is a mistake. However, that mistake is more likely due to a lapse in judgment or skill than to an accident. A plane crash that occurs after the pilot mistakenly presses the "pilot eject" button is said to be caused by "human error." A baseball play in which the pitcher throws the ball to second base instead of first because he was distracted by a pretty girl in the stands is an error — one that might cost his team the game.
Vocabulary lists containing error
Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 2
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Novel Study: The Crucible, Act 1
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Common Core Grade 5, List 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“This fault in us I find,” she says, of women generally, “the error of our eye doth direct our mind.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Eventually, such knowledge might allow doctors to determine which therapies are most likely to help individual patients, potentially reducing the amount of trial and error involved in treatment.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2026
The High Court has ruled a "significant error" was made in the application for a warrant to search his residences, it writes.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
He scored his only run of the series Wednesday, when he walked, stole second, took third on one error and scored on another error.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
But while the actual event occurred on 24 August, one set of tables was a whole month late in its prediction and even the best was several days in error.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
Maresca placed the emphasis on "when" City win their appeal, as they vehemently insist the commission's ruling contained "clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe".
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Then he stole second base and capitalized on a pair of Braves errors to score.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026
The issue is that small rounding errors with this approach can theoretically compound to make the answer useless.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Floyd County, where Akyn took over as elections director in 2022, was one of the very few places where errors had occurred.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
We came in stamped with such errors we can never know which ones made a lasting impression.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
