err

[ur, er]

verb (used without object)

to go astray in thought or belief; be mistaken; be incorrect.

to go astray morally; sin: To err is human.

Archaic. to deviate from the true course, aim, or purpose.

Origin of err

1275–1325; Middle English erren < Old French errer < Latin errāre; akin to Gothic airzjan, Old High German irrôn, German irren

Related formserr·a·bil·i·ty, nounerr·a·ble, adjective

Can be confusedair e'er ere err heirer err Ur

Synonyms for err

2. transgress, lapse.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for errs

stumble, misbehave, stray, miscalculate, blow, goof, deviate, lapse, flub, muff, snafu, blunder, trespass, misjudge, misapprehend, fall, offend, sin, wander, bollix

Examples from the Web for errs

Contemporary Examples of errs

Murray also errs in reducing educational attainment and professional success solely to genetic endowment.
Charles Murray’s ‘Coming Apart’ and the Culture Myth
Ralph Richard Banks
February 8, 2012
Kaplan errs in not taking Sinatra, the actor, seriously enough.
Sinatra's Unstoppable Voice
Allen Barra
December 9, 2010

Historical Examples of errs

Why, yes, he said: how can any reasonable being ever identify that which is infallible with that which errs?
The Republic
Plato
We do not see that Stith "errs" even "a little in the data."
Colonial Records of Virginia
Various
He errs, by himself, in maintaining that there is a belief where no belief exists.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, October 1847
Various
Thus Novalis errs not in saying that 'we are near waking when we dream that we dream.'
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
The twenty-first book of the Cynthia errs in being overcharged with thought.
Sir Walter Ralegh
William Stebbing

British Dictionary definitions for errs

err

verb (intr)

to make a mistake; be incorrect

to stray from the right course or accepted standards; sin

to act with bias, esp favourable biasto err on the side of justice

Word Origin for err

C14: erren to wander, stray, from Old French errer, from Latin errāre

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

Word Origin and History for errs

err

c.1300, from Old French errer "go astray, lose one's way; make a mistake; transgress," from Latin errare "wander, go astray, be in error," from PIE root *ers- "be in motion, wander around" (cf. Sanskrit arsati "flows;" Old English ierre "angry, straying;" Old Frisian ire "angry;" Old High German irri "angry," irron "astray;" Gothic airziþa "error, deception;" the Germanic words reflecting the notion of anger as a "straying" from normal composure). Related: Erred; erring.