Word
mistake
Phoneticsmis·take
US/mɪˈsteɪk/
UK/mɪstˈeɪk/
Definitions
01an error
n. something you do that is wrong, incorrect, or not what you intended.
n. an act or judgement that is misguided or wrong; an unintentional deviation from accuracy or propriety.
“I made a small mistake in the email, but I sent a correction quickly.”
“The accountant discovered a significant mistake in the quarterly report that required several hours of forensic auditing to resolve.”
Usage
Commonly used with the verb 'make'.
Pitfall
I did a mistake on the test.
I made a mistake on the test.
In English, we use the verb 'make' with 'mistake', not 'do'.
Antonyms
02to confuse one thing for another
v. to think that someone or something is someone or something else.
v. to identify someone or something incorrectly; to confuse a person or thing with another.
“I often mistake her for her sister because they look so similar.”
“It is easy to mistake the symptoms of a common cold for those of more serious seasonal allergies during the spring months.”
Usage
Usually follows the pattern 'mistake A for B'.
03to misunderstand
v. to fail to understand a person or a situation correctly.
v. to misinterpret or fail to understand the nature or meaning of something.
“Please do not mistake my silence for agreement.”
“The diplomat warned the assembly not to mistake the nation's willingness to negotiate for a lack of military resolve.”
Formal
Synonyms
Antonyms
Confusables
Mistake implies a lapse in judgment or a careless slip, while error suggests a failure to meet a technical standard or a formal rule.
RememberMistakes are human slips; errors are technical failures.
Etymology
From Middle English mistaken, from Old Norse mistaka (“to take in error, to miscarry”); equivalent to mis- + take. Cognate with Icelandic mistaka (“to mistake”), Swedish missta (“to mistake”) (before apocope misstaga). The noun, which replaced earlier mistaking, is derived from the verb. Compare Swedish misstag (“mistake”, noun), Faroese mistak (“mitake”, noun), Icelandic mistak (“mistake”, noun).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Idioms
mistake windmills for giants — To perceive ordinary, nonthreatening objects or situations as significant dangers or adversaries, often due to an overly romantic, idealistic, or deluded worldview.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/mistake