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:
For Michael Morley, director of the Florida State University Election Law Center, there are several possible sources of error when matching datasets.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Alas, Cheung made the fatal error of posting a clip of the handsome 39-year-old.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
The accidental use of an incorrect donor during an IVF procedure is extremely rare, they told us, and for an error of this magnitude to occur on multiple occasions suggests "negligence" or "deception".
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Then in the eighth, the Dodgers took advantage of an error by Carrigg in center field that allowed Ohtani to advance to second.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
The main fear of every top notch chess player, the story went on, “is the inexplicable error from which no one is immune,” the chance blunder.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
But a report by the Ada Lovelace Institute, external found AI tools made frequent errors in care assessments, some of which found their way into finalised reports.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Tom Hartmann, a spokesperson for State Farm, said in a statement that the company is working to ensure “appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent similar errors in the future.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Putting together a snapshot of a company’s quarterly performance can involve investigating errors or reporting problems at subsidiaries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
There are plenty of ways to account for this upset, from polling errors to the musical chairs at the ballot box to Hong’s failure to spend basically any money on TV ads.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
Most grammatical rules are defined over trees, not strings, so this momentary tree-blindness can lead to pesky errors.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
