error message

British

noun

a message displayed on a visual display unit, printout, etc, indicating that an incorrect instruction has been given to the computer

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Posting the link on Facebook now triggers an error message saying: “Posts that look like spam according to our Community Guidelines are blocked on Facebook and can’t be edited.”

From Slate • Jan. 28, 2026

But UK users trying to access Imgur on Tuesday were met with an error message saying "content not available in your region" - with Imgur content shared on other websites also no longer showing.

From BBC • Sep. 30, 2025

But the website kept returning an error message.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2025

Many claimed the release itself was one big scam after they were met with an error message upon clicking the link to enter the giveaway.

From Salon • Aug. 22, 2024

Alyssa instinctively takes out her phone, but gets an error message as she tries to open the app.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023