false step

American  

noun

1. a stumble.

2. an unwise or blundering act.

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false step British  

noun

1. an unwise action

2. a stumble; slip

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false step Idioms  

1. A stumble or blunder, as in Making a down payment without securing a mortgage was clearly a false step. This term transfers physical stumbling or tripping to other enterprises. [c. 1700]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

false step

The only false step in the sketch is the ending, which goes on on a cheap joke.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026

It’s the poignant devastation of knowing one false step or bad decision could reshape your life that knocks us over.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2025

That left hand is all over the place, dancing across the entire lower registry of the instrument, perfectly in time and never making a false step.

From Slate ● Jun. 7, 2019

One false step can lead to a fall into a stream underneath.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 13, 2018

It’s worth looking at this false step before discussing Descartes’s influence in areas where he was more right than wrong.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin