error
a deviation from accuracy or correctness; a mistake, as in action or speech: His speech contained several factual errors.
belief in something untrue; the holding of mistaken opinions.
the condition of believing what is not true: in error about the date.
a moral offense; wrongdoing; sin.
Baseball. a misplay that enables a base runner to reach base safely or advance a base, or a batter to have a turn at bat prolonged, as the dropping of a ball batted in the air, the fumbling of a batted or thrown ball, or the throwing of a wild ball, but not including a passed ball or wild pitch.
Mathematics. the difference between the observed or approximately determined value and the true value of a quantity.
Law.
a mistake in a matter of fact or law in a case tried in a court of record.
Philately. a stamp distinguished by an error or errors in design, engraving, selection of inks, or setting up of the printing apparatus.: Compare freak1 (def. 5), variety (def. 7).
Origin of error
1synonym study For error
Other words for error
Other words from error
- er·ror·less, adjective
- er·ror·less·ly, adverb
Words Nearby error
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use error in a sentence
Exactly how much you’ll need is often a bit of trial and error.
Sauce, gravy or stew too thin? We’ve got 3 ways to fix that. | Aaron Hutcherson | February 12, 2021 | Washington PostThis means they are hard to ace, but also, they make very few errors on their return strokes.
How Serena Williams Could Finally Break The Grand Slam Record | Amy Lundy | February 10, 2021 | FiveThirtyEightIn fact, Drake appears poised to be a seeding error of a different sort.
Remember Loyola? This Team Is Even Better Than The One That Made The Final Four. | Jake Lourim | February 10, 2021 | FiveThirtyEightWith the upgrade, the new Coverage reporting greatly expanded the amount of information for site owners, including errors, indexing levels, and urls that were being excluded from indexing.
Quest for more coverage: Making a case for larger exports from Google Search Console’s Coverage reporting | Glenn Gabe | February 9, 2021 | Search Engine LandIn 2016, with support from her parents and after a lot of trial and error with designers, Samaira introduced CoderBunnyz, her first board game.
Samaira Mehta shows other kids the fun of coding by inventing board games | Gina Rich | February 9, 2021 | Washington Post
Everyone out there who says, “Charlie Hebdo provoked,” is making the same fundamental error.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Our Duty Is to Keep Charlie Hebdo Alive | Ayaan Hirsi Ali | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThere were also crashes not due to either mechanical or human error but to a lack of warning of dangerous conditions.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly? | Clive Irving | January 4, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTBut as everyone knows, he went on to say—not once but many times—that that was the greatest error of his career by far.
Steve Scalise and the Right’s Ridiculous Racial Blame Game | Michael Tomasky | January 2, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThe misidentification has since been corrected, and The Daily Beast regrets the error.
Choking Back Tears, Thousands of Cops Honor Fallen Officer Ramos | Michael Daly | December 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut millions of rules result in perpetual error, and, as a terminal side effect, make leadership and accomplishment illegal.
It is a very common error to consider these deposits as evidence of excessive excretion.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddMy mother now tells me that she knew of this mistake, an error of the New York paper in copying the item from a Southern journal.
The Boarded-Up House | Augusta Huiell SeamanIt was a fatal error, for though the Spanish people might despise their King, they were intensely proud of their nationality.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonIt was an error not to separate borrowing entirely from monetary issues.
Readings in Money and Banking | Chester Arthur PhillipsConsequently he was able to turn in a clear essay upon the subject, which, upon examination, the king found to be free from error.
Our Little Korean Cousin | H. Lee M. Pike
British Dictionary definitions for error
/ (ˈɛrə) /
a mistake or inaccuracy, as in action or speech: a typing error
an incorrect belief or wrong judgment
the condition of deviating from accuracy or correctness, as in belief, action, or speech: he was in error about the train times
deviation from a moral standard; wrongdoing: he saw the error of his ways
maths statistics a measure of the difference between some quantity and an approximation to or estimate of it, often expressed as a percentage: an error of 5%
statistics See type I error, type II error
Origin of error
1Derived forms of error
- error-free, adjective
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 error
see comedy of errors; trial and error.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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