mistake
Americannoun
-
mistakes
plural
-
an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc.
- Synonyms:
- oversight, fault, erratum, inaccuracy
-
a misunderstanding or misconception.
- Antonyms:
- understanding
verb (used with object)
-
mistakes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mistook,
past
-
mistaken,
past participle
-
mistaking
present participle
-
to regard or identify wrongly as something or someone else.
I mistook him for the mayor.
-
to understand, interpret, or evaluate wrongly; misunderstand; misinterpret.
- Synonyms:
- err, misjudge, misconceive
verb (used without object)
-
mistakes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mistook,
past
-
mistaken,
past participle
-
mistaking
present participle
idioms
noun
-
an error or blunder in action, opinion, or judgment
-
a misconception or misunderstanding
verb
-
(tr) to misunderstand; misinterpret
she mistook his meaning
-
to take (for), interpret (as), or confuse (with)
she mistook his direct manner for honesty
-
(tr) to choose badly or incorrectly
he mistook his path
-
(intr) to make a mistake in action, opinion, judgment, etc
Commonly Confused
See misnomer.
Synonym Usage
Mistake, blunder, error, slip refer to deviations from right, accuracy, correctness, or truth. A mistake, grave or trivial, is caused by bad judgment or a disregard of rule or principle: It was a mistake to argue. A blunder is a careless, stupid, or gross mistake in action or speech, suggesting awkwardness, heedlessness, or ignorance: Through his blunder the message was lost. An error (often interchanged with mistake ) is an unintentional wandering or deviation from accuracy, or right conduct: an error in addition. A slip is usually a minor mistake made through haste or carelessness: a slip of the tongue.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
mistakesimple
-
mistakessimple
-
have mistakenperfect
-
has mistakenperfect
-
am mistakingprogressive
-
are mistakingprogressive
-
is mistakingprogressive
-
have been mistakingperfect progressive
-
has been mistakingperfect progressive
Past
-
mistooksimple
-
had mistakenperfect
-
was mistakingprogressive
-
were mistakingprogressive
-
had been mistakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mistake
First recorded in 1300–30; Middle English mistaken (verb), from Old Norse mistaka “to take in error.” see origin at mis- 1, take
Explanation
A mistake is an error, a goof, a slip-up. When you make a mistake, you've done something incorrectly. Mistake has a lot of uses, but they all have to do with doing the wrong thing. A mistake in math class will result in the wrong answer, but a mistake with a gun could get someone killed. If you mix up two people, you're mistaking one for the other. When you make a mistake, the best thing to do is admit it and try to make up for it; not apologizing for a mistake is another mistake.
Vocabulary lists containing mistake
"The Experiment" and "Superstition"
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"Indian Summer Sun" and "Almost Evenly Divided"
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"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
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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:
The advertising agency has since acknowledged its mistake and refunded the money.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
But make no mistake, it’s entirely possible that her first day briefing the White House press will also be her best day.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
And in a setting where a mistranslated word can mean the difference between an accurate diagnosis and a dangerous mistake, the consequences can be severe—or even deadly.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
I found Lisandro Martinez's outburst about Manchester United's recruitment very strange, especially after his mistake that cost his side victory over Tottenham.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
But then she remembered how she had signed for the flowers and chocolates by mistake.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
When doctors reviewed translations with high quality scores, they also found small but frequent mistakes in medication instructions, as well as in warnings about when to urgently return to the ER.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
They developed a reputation for being prone to mistakes and turnovers and were considered a bit soft.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
By the time their performance improved in Lisbon on Thursday, they were three goals down and effectively already out of the contest, hamstrung by their own sloppy mistakes.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
I want them to see, step by step, decision by decision, how those massive frauds came about, and teach them how to avoid those same ethical mistakes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
They need to make mistakes and be forgiven and do better the next time.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
He has attended so many of her meetings that some foreign officials mistook him for her chief of staff.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
During a nighttime field survey, researchers initially mistook the animal for a mushroom, highlighting just how convincing its disguise is.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026
In another close encounter, while filming underwater a hungry walrus mistook him for a seal and took hold of his legs.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2026
At least 59 detainees were freed because the system mistook them for other people.
From Barron's ● Mar. 17, 2026
“It seems someone mistook me for a pumpkin,” I said.
From "Wishtree" by Katherine Applegate
Optimists who think the foolishness will blow over are mistaken.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
But that can mean an "algorithm misdetecting" content, as it is created to do, storing that information to repeat "previous mistaken decisions", she warns.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Popular student leader Neha Bora became a viral sensation after a case of mistaken identity led to police detaining her lookalike.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
A shadow can briefly resemble a face, or one object can momentarily be mistaken for another.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026
Thus, the sunk cost fallacy is the mistaken belief that the money you once paid for something has anything to do with what it might now be worth.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
LZ is especially sensitive to events of this kind, while its design also helps scientists reduce the chances of mistaking ordinary particle interactions for dark matter.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
This is an easy category error for anyone to make when talking about tourism, mistaking a country’s boundless beauty and hospitality toward visitors for anything else.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
They tricked image recognition systems into mistaking photographs of cats for guacamole, and found new ways of embedding inaudible Alexa commands into five-second snippets of classical music.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said some outlets accused Hegseth of mistaking Jackson’s Golden Globe-winning performance with actual scripture, and called that narrative “fake news.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026
“Ah!” said he, mistaking me; “the retirement reminds you of the country. So it does me.”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
