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

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Etymology

Origin of correction

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

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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

In this case, a correction of just eight kilometers helped transform an ancient eclipse record into a more precise source of information about Earth's rotation and a potential window into the Sun's distant past.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026

After a sharp 9% correction Thursday, SpaceX shares rebounded 3% on the news in pre-market trading Fridaqy and Crown Castle jumped 7%.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026

U.S. government bonds could regain their diversification value if an AI-led market correction deepens, Julius Baer said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

"The French correction" is the Metro's headline, embedding a picture showing a row of Paris riot cops next to the caption "Formez vos batallions".

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Concomitant with the rise of imprisonment, there were 239,229 correction officers nationwide at the beginning of 1998, up from 60,026 just sixteen years before.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

Community Notes, which allows users to contribute notes that add context or corrections to posts, was introduced by X in late 2022 and the same model is increasingly being adopted by other tech platforms.

From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026

“New Stanford” comes with a trio of experts — host Alison Wood Brooks, a behavioral psychologist; “federal corrections professional” Michael Cantrell; and journalist Trymaine Lee — whose contribution amounts to a sort of color commentary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

“It was impossible to get. Our video store had only one copy, and there was a waiting list. It took us about three or four months,” says Phoenix-area corrections officer Steve Taris.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

Engineers will continue refining its camera settings and determining the optimal configurations for its deformable mirrors, which can change shape to make extremely precise corrections to incoming light.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

Our training officer com- merited on the fame of the building, how corrections officials from around the world came to visit it.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

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