human error

American  

[hyoo-muhn er-er] / ˈhyu mən ˈɛr ər /

noun

plural

human errors

1. a mistake made by a human worker or the propensity of humans to make such mistakes, as opposed to the failure of mechanical or electronic systems or devices.

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Other Word Forms

• human-error
  adjective

Example Sentences

Nowell said the manager explained it was a mixture of "human error" and a recently installed new card system.

From BBC • Apr. 23, 2026

When Brown and his team examined the report, they found that Georgia’s election board had already looked into its allegations, dismissing many altogether, and concluding that others came down to human error, not criminal wrongdoing.

From Salon • Apr. 14, 2026

Anthropic accidentally released part of the internal source code for its AI-powered coding assistant Claude Code due to "human error," the company said Tuesday.

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

One explanation for someone else’s information appearing on your tax return is simple human error.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026

“This is where human error creeps in,” Beryl says.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin