# error

/ˈɛɹɝ/ (US) · /ˈɛɹɐ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/error
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. a mistake

noun · CEFR A2

a mistake or something you do that is not correct.

For teachers: a mistake or an accidental wrong action resulting from poor judgement, lack of knowledge, or carelessness.

- The bank apologized for the error on my monthly statement.
- The administrative error resulted in several hundred patients receiving the wrong appointment times for their consultations.

### 2. computing failure

noun · CEFR B1 · Technical

a problem that stops a computer program from working correctly.

For teachers: a failure of a computing device or program to complete a task, often resulting in a system message.

- A system error occurred while I was trying to save the document.
- The software threw a critical error during the installation process, forcing the user to restart the operating system.

### 3. scientific/math difference

noun · CEFR B2 · Academic · Technical

the difference between a measured value and the perfect, true value.

For teachers: the numerical difference between a measured or calculated value and the true or theoretical value.

- The margin of error in the survey was about three percent.
- Researchers must account for instrumental error when interpreting the data from the high-precision sensors.

### 4. language mistake

noun · CEFR C1 · Academic

a mistake made by someone learning a new language.

For teachers: an unintentional deviation from the rules of a language made by a learner.

- The teacher corrected the grammatical error in the student's essay.
- Interlanguage errors often reflect the learner's attempt to apply the grammatical structures of their native tongue to the target language.

### 5. legal grounds for appeal

noun · CEFR C1 · Formal · Technical

a mistake in a court case that might allow for a new trial.

For teachers: a mistake in a judicial proceeding that may provide grounds for a review or reversal of the judgement.

- The lawyer argued that there was a legal error during the trial.
- The appellate court found a reversible error in the judge's instructions to the jury, leading to a stay of execution.

### 6. to fail or crash

verb · CEFR C1 · Informal · Technical

to stop working or show a mistake message on a computer.

For teachers: to fail to function properly or to terminate a process prematurely, typically accompanied by a fault report.

- The app started to error every time I uploaded a photo.
- The script began to error out after the database reached its maximum storage capacity.

## Examples

- The computer screen shows a system error.
- The accountant found a small error in the spreadsheet that changed the final total.
- While the experimental results appeared promising, a systematic error in the calibration of the sensors eventually invalidated the entire dataset.

---

From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.