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View synonyms for err

err

[ er, ur ]

verb (used without object)

  1. to go astray in thought or belief; be mistaken; be incorrect.
  2. to go astray morally; sin:

    To err is human.

    Synonyms: lapse, transgress

  3. Archaic. to deviate from the true course, aim, or purpose.


err

/ ɜː /

verb

  1. to make a mistake; be incorrect
  2. to stray from the right course or accepted standards; sin
  3. to act with bias, esp favourable bias

    to err on the side of justice



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Other Words From

  • err·a·bil·i·ty [er-, uh, -, bil, -i-tee, ur-] noun
  • err·a·ble adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of err1

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English erren, from Old French errer, from Latin errāre “to make a mistake; wander”; akin to Gothic airzjan, Old High German irrôn ( German irren )

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Word History and Origins

Origin of err1

C14: erren to wander, stray, from Old French errer, from Latin errāre

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. err on the side of caution. err on the side of caution.

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Example Sentences

Walthour did say Rodriguez had erred in his decision when he claimed Walthour had submitted a formal affidavit concerning his wife’s health.

Above all, he valued his freedom — the freedom to explore, the freedom to err, the freedom to create.

We’re going to err on the side of caution, and we’re going to bring very few people back to the office at a time.

From Digiday

So, with transmission rates still high in many parts of the world, including the United States, and large swaths of the population still unvaccinated, it’s best to err on the side of caution.

The appeal filed Monday said Marchant had erred in several ways, including by accepting actions the General Assembly took last summer.

No one likes it when their sandcastle is knocked over, but his reaction is a bit, err, extreme.

They tend to err heavily on the side of the government where kidnapping is concerned.

The bottom line is agencies almost always err on the side of caution.

In other words, the vast majority of Americans seem to agree with the American Mullahs, err, “hard-liners.”

Err, yes, of course Newt Gingrich loved the number of debates.

And they that call this people blessed, shall cause them to err: and they that are called blessed, shall be thrown down, headlong.

Why hast thou made us to err, O Lord, from thy ways: why hast thou hardened our heart, that we should not fear thee?

Whatever his own personal blunders, it was impossible for Joseph Addison to err in a point of literary judgment.

Is not your style so simple, frank, and direct that a wayfaring girl can read it and not err therein?

It is under the abiding influence of the Holy Ghost, and therefore cannot err in matters of faith.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from 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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