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error

Pronunciation: /ˈɛɹə/

The English word “error” has 12 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The state, quality, or condition of being wrong.
  2. A mistake; an accidental wrong action or a false statement not made deliberately.
  3. Sin; transgression.
  4. A failure to complete a task, usually involving a premature termination.
  5. The difference between a measured or calculated value and a true one.
  6. A play which is scored as having been made incorrectly.
  7. One or more mistakes in a trial that could be grounds for review of the judgement.
  8. Any alteration in the DNA chemical structure occurring during DNA replication, recombination or repairing.
  9. An unintentional deviation from the inherent rules of a language variety made by a second language learner.

verb

  1. To function improperly due to an error, especially accompanied by error message.
  2. To show or contain an error or fault.
  3. To err.

Etymology

From Middle English errour, from Anglo-Norman errour, borrowed from Old French error, from Latin error (“wandering about”, noun), derived from the verb errō (“to wander, to err”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌴𐌹 (airzei, “error”), Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌶𐌾𐌰𐌽 (airzjan, “to lead astray”). More at err. By surface analysis, err + -or (suffix forming nouns of quality, state, or condition). Displaced native Old English…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.