slip-up

[ slip-uhp ]

/ ˈslɪpˌʌp /

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See synonyms for slip-up on Thesaurus.com

noun

a mistake, blunder, or oversight: Several slip-ups caused a delay in the delivery of the books.

OTHER WORDS FOR slip-up

error, lapse, bungle.

See synonyms for slip-up on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of slip-up

First recorded in 1850–55; noun use of verb phrase slip up

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use slip-up in a sentence

Both Time and CNN reinstated Zakaria after determining the slip-up was “an isolated incident.”
Can Fareed Zakaria Survive A Plagiarism Firestorm?|Lloyd Grove|November 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
For the Times, which had won four Pulitzer Prizes in 2013, the Snowden slip-up was a bitter pill to swallow.
Is The Guardian Holding Back The New York Times’ Snowden Stories?|Lloyd Grove|October 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Smokers, for example, who may have gone weeks without a cigarette could fall back into a habit after just one slip-up.
When Is It OK to Cheat? The Pros and Cons of Cheat Days|DailyBurn|July 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A likely answer is that the NSA is waiting for them to slip up.
Use or Look at Online Privacy Tools? NSA Labels You an ‘Extremist’|Joshua Kopstein|July 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST

What the slip-up teaches us about the science of rare events.
The Gamma-Ray Burst That Wasn’t|Matthew R. Francis|June 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You can't slip up on um en grab um; en how's a body gwyne to hit um wid a rock?
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
"You oughtn't to slip up an' s-startle a lady that-a-way," she said with grave rebuke, and Hale looked humbled.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine|John Fox, Jr.
The pedestal must of course be free to rotate, and the slide rest to slip up and down the bed.
On Laboratory Arts|Richard Threlfall
Fortified by the courage which comes from whisky, they would try and slip up on us in the night and win by a surprise.
The Pirate of Panama|William MacLeod Raine
Sorley, was to slip up afther mass to take his dinner wid them, and to keep Misther Mc.
The Irish Fairy Book|Various

British Dictionary definitions for slip-up

slip up

verb (intr, adverb)

informal to make a blunder or mistake; err

to fall overhe slipped up in the street

noun slip-up

informal a mistake, blunder, or mishap

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with slip-up