error

[er-er]

noun

1. a deviation from accuracy or correctness; a mistake, as in action or speech.

   His speech contained several factual errors.

   Synonyms: oversight, slip, blunder

2. belief in something untrue; the holding of mistaken opinions.

3. the condition of believing what is not true.

   in error about the date.

4. a moral offense; wrongdoing; sin.

   Synonyms: misdeed, trespass, transgression, fault

5. 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.

6. Mathematics.,  the difference between the observed or approximately determined value and the true value of a quantity.

7. Law.

   1. a mistake in a matter of fact or law in a case tried in a court of record.

   2. writ of error.

8. Philately.,  a stamp distinguished by an error or errors in design, engraving, selection of inks, or setting up of the printing apparatus.

error

/ ˈɛrə /

noun

1. a mistake or inaccuracy, as in action or speech

   a typing error

2. an incorrect belief or wrong judgment

3. the condition of deviating from accuracy or correctness, as in belief, action, or speech

   he was in error about the train times

4. deviation from a moral standard; wrongdoing

   he saw the error of his ways

5. 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%

6. statistics See type I error type II error

Other Word Forms

• errorless adjective
• errorlessly adverb
• error-free adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of error¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English errour, from Latin errōr-, stem of error, equivalent to err + -or ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of error¹

C13: from Latin, from errāre to _err

Idioms and Phrases

see comedy of errors; trial and error.

Synonym Study

See mistake.

Example Sentences

As expected, these distractions disrupted performance -- sometimes leading to errors or slower reaction times when the animals needed to respond.

Read more on Science Daily

How do we manage regret — especially when the margin for error feels smaller in retirement?

Read more on MarketWatch

These errors—and the decision to prosecute the case in the first place—violated the core principles essential to the rule of law, due process and equal protection.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Ellis said he wants more information about so-called fundamental items, such as Rigetti’s progress on error reduction, scaling of its quantum architecture, and progress in conjunction with partner Quanta Computer.

Read more on Barron's

With the camera not directly on the goal-line, it could be argued that there wasn't definitive proof of an error, as Arsenal found out to their cost at Newcastle two years ago.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• blunder 
• failure 
• fault 
• flaw 
• glitch 
• inaccuracy 
• lapse 
• miscalculation www.thesaurus.com
• miscue 
• misdeed 
• mismanagement www.thesaurus.com
• misstep 
• misunderstanding 
• offense 
• omission 
• sin 
• transgression 
• wrongdoing