err
[ur, er]
- 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.
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Origin of err
1275–1325; Middle English erren < Old French errer < Latin errāre; akin to Gothic airzjan, Old High German irrôn, German irren
Synonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
stumblemisbehavestraymiscalculateblowgoofdeviatelapseflubmuffsnafublundertrespassmisjudgemisapprehendfalloffendsinwanderbollixExamples from the Web for errs
Contemporary Examples
Murray also errs in reducing educational attainment and professional success solely to genetic endowment.
Kaplan errs in not taking Sinatra, the actor, seriously enough.
Historical Examples
Why, yes, he said: how can any reasonable being ever identify that which is infallible with that which errs?
The RepublicPlato
We do not see that Stith "errs" even "a little in the data."
Colonial Records of VirginiaVarious
He errs, by himself, in maintaining that there is a belief where no belief exists.
Thus Novalis errs not in saying that 'we are near waking when we dream that we dream.'
The Works of Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe
The twenty-first book of the Cynthia errs in being overcharged with thought.
Sir Walter RaleghWilliam Stebbing
err
- 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
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Word Origin
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
v.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper