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:
In a paper published in October 2025 called "Artificial Writing and Automated Detection", researchers at the University of Chicago found Pangram "achieving near-zero error rates" on medium-to-long extracts.
From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026
Because AI actually can produce realistic food art, we might be looking at the work of older models—or simple human error.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The results are estimated to have a margin of error of about 2 percentage points in either direction in the overall sample, and larger numbers for subgroups.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
The lawsuit claims that the Education Department has yet to respond to a credit-bureau dispute over the discharged debt at issue in the case by correcting the error.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
“Is that what you came slamming in here about? An error in which table?”
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
“We intend to seek review in the California Supreme Court because we continue to believe significant legal errors affected the proceedings and warrant further review.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Among the criteria graded on Anderson's 'radar chart' were defensive regains, duel success, line-breaking passes, aerial-duel success and defensive errors.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Slowing down, as you point out, comes with risks and, yes, sometimes, costly errors or judgment.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
"If small errors creep in, and you try to repeat that flip 10 times with those small errors, the robot will just crash. We need to have robust flight control," How says.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
Simple errors can be fixed with an eraser; more complicated blunders require an apology and a sincere effort to make things right.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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.
