correction

American  

[kuh-rek-shuhn] / kəˈrɛk ʃən /

noun

• corrections
  plural

1. something that is substituted or proposed for what is wrong or inaccurate; emendation.

2. the act of correcting.

3. punishment intended to reform, improve, or rehabilitate; chastisement; reproof.

4. Usually corrections. the various methods, as incarceration, parole, and probation, by which society deals with convicted offenders.

5. a quantity applied or other adjustment made in order to increase accuracy, as in the use of an instrument or the solution of a problem.

   A five degree correction will put the ship on course.

6. a reversal of the trend of stock prices, especially temporarily, as after a sharp advance or decline in the previous trading sessions.

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correction British  

/ kəˈrɛkʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of correcting

2. something offered or substituted for an error; an improvement

3. the act or process of punishing; reproof

4. a number or quantity added to or subtracted from a scientific or mathematical calculation or observation to increase its accuracy

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Usage

What is a correction? A correction is something substituted for something that is wrong or inaccurate, such as when a newspaper issues a correction to a story it got wrong. A correction is also an adjustment or addition to something to make it more accurate, as when you make a steering correction while driving to ensure you are in the center of your lane. A correction is also a punishment that is meant to help you reform or improve. This is the type of correction connected with prisons, also called correctional facilities. Example: We are applying a correction to the story after it came out that one of the sources was lying.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncorrection
  noun
• precorrection
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• corrections
  plural

Etymology

Origin of correction

1300–50; Middle English correccio ( u ) n (< Anglo-French ) < Latin corrēctiōn- (stem of corrēctiō ) a setting straight. See correct, -ion

Explanation

When you fix a mistake, you make a correction, a change that rights a wrong. When you correct a misspelled word, you’ve made a correction. Well done! Correction also applies to punishment, which is another way to right a wrong. A correction is an improvement or a revision when there's something that needs to be fixed. Newspapers issue corrections for previously printed errors, and a poorly written law might get the correction it needs after voters choose to amend it. Sometimes correction is also used to mean "punishment or discipline," and a correction or correctional facility is another word for jail. Correction can also mean "a drop in the value of a stock that was artificially high."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

correction corrections

Microsoft on Monday published a “humanist” code of conduct to show its commitment to ensuring Microsoft’s models “will never resist human interruption, correction, or shutdown.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

However, a sharp correction is unlikely, with crude palm oil prices expected to stay above 4,000 ringgit a ton, she says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Traditional computers can experience errors too, but decades of development have produced reliable error correction methods that can quickly detect and repair them.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

Effectively, that correction — which many define as a decline of at least 10% to just shy of 20% — ended with a close above the 50-DMA.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

“I hear that some of you decided to be prison guards instead of correction officers last night,” Sergeant Bloom chastened us.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

Bruce Davis, who was Charles Manson’s so-called “right-hand man,” died in a California prison hospital late last week at the age of 83, corrections officials said Monday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

She directed core participants to provide any corrections to errors or omissions by no later than 31 December.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

Mission controllers will carry out the first of two course corrections, and Roman's Coronagraph Instrument will be switched on.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

But market corrections and recessions come in all shapes and sizes.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026

Sometimes Headmaster got frustrated and crumpled up Neel’s papers, and his red pen flew like a carving knife as he made endless corrections.

From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins