INDEX:
1. mistake
2. a mistake in words that are written or printed
3. a bad decision that causes problems for you
4. a silly mistake that causes social embarrassment
5. to make a mistake
RELATED WORDS
by accident : ↑ ACCIDENTALLY
see also
↑ WRONG
↑ CARELESS
↑ CONFUSED
◆◆◆
1. mistake
▷ mistake /mɪˈsteɪk, məˈsteɪk/ [countable noun]
something incorrect that you do, say, or write without intending to :
▪ Your essay is full of mistakes.
▪ Celia corrected the mistakes with a pen.
mistake in
▪ a tiny mistake in their calculations
make a mistake
▪ Sampras was playing badly, making a lot of mistakes.
there’s a mistake
▪ There must be some mistake - I definitely paid the bill last week.
▷ error /ˈerəʳ/ [countable/uncountable noun]
a mistake - use this especially to talk about mistakes in calculating or in using a language, system, or computer :
▪ An error occurred in the processing of your application.
error in
▪ There seems to be an error in the data.
human error
when a mistake is caused by people, not by a machine
▪ The report concluded that the accident was caused by human error.
computer error
a mistake caused by a computer
▪ Over 50 people were denied a vote through a computer error.
▷ slip /slɪp/ [countable noun]
a small unimportant mistake that is easy to make :
make a slip
▪ Don’t worry -- we all make slips from time to time.
▪ People doing this kind of precision work can’t afford to make the slightest slip.
▷ slip-up /ˈslɪp ʌp/ [countable noun]
a careless mistake that may spoil a plan or process :
▪ This whole situation only happened because of a slip-up by the bank.
▪ If we are going to win the contract, we can’t afford any more slip-ups.
▷ mix-up /ˈmɪks ʌp/ [countable noun]
a careless mistake that causes confusion about details, for example someone’s name, the time of a meeting etc :
▪ The police have now returned Mr Sullivan’s car and apologized for the mix-up.
mix-up over
▪ There was a mix-up over the train times and I arrived two hours late.
mix-up in
▪ I’m afraid there’s been a mix-up in the booking - we were expecting you tomorrow.
▷ oversight /ˈəʊvəʳsaɪt/ [countable noun]
a mistake that you make by not noticing something or by forgetting to do something :
▪ I’m sure it was just an oversight that your name wasn’t on the list.
▪ The bank apologized for the oversight.
▪ Due to an administrative oversight, several members of staff did not receive pay checks this month.
▷ slip of the tongue /ˌslɪp əv ðə ˈtʌŋ/ [noun phrase]
when you accidentally say a different word from the word you intended to say, sometimes with embarrassing results :
▪ He quickly corrected his unfortunate slip of the tongue.
▪ Did I say ‘Harlow’? Sorry, I meant ‘Harrow’. It was just a slip of the tongue.
▷ boob British /booboo American /buːb, ˈbuːbuː/ [singular noun] informal
a silly mistake, especially one that amuses people :
▪ We labelled the pictures with the wrong names, but the boob was spotted by one of our readers.
make a boob/booboo
▪ Whoops! I think I’ve made a booboo.
▷ howler /ˈhaʊləʳ/ [countable noun]
a very bad mistake, especially one that shows you do not know something :
▪ He read out a selection of howlers from students’ exam answers.
2. a mistake in words that are written or printed
▷ mistake /mɪˈsteɪk, məˈsteɪk/ [countable noun]
a mistake in words that are written, typed, or printed :
▪ If you make a mistake, just cross it out.
mistake in
▪ There’s a mistake in the address.
spelling mistake
▪ Check your work carefully for any spelling mistakes.
▷ error /ˈerəʳ/ [countable noun]
a mistake in words that are typed or printed :
▪ ‘It says in this advertisement that the exhibition opens at 10.’ ‘That’s an error.’
typing error
▪ She made very few typing errors.
▷ misprint /ˈmɪs-prɪnt/ [countable noun]
a word or number that has been printed wrongly :
▪ It can’t really cost £20 - it must be a misprint.
▪ In the last sentence, ‘unclear’ is a misprint for ‘nuclear’.
▷ typo /ˈtaɪpəʊ/ [countable noun]
a small mistake in a piece of writing which someone has typed or printed :
▪ The article was badly written and full of typos.
3. a bad decision that causes problems for you
▷ mistake /mɪˈsteɪk, məˈsteɪk/ [countable noun]
something you do or decide that is not at all sensible and causes you a lot of problems :
make a mistake
▪ My first marriage was a terrible failure. I don’t want to make the same mistake again.
▪ Don’t make the mistake of underestimating your opponent.
it is a mistake to do something
▪ It was a mistake to think that we could go on living on borrowed money.
big/serious/terrible mistake
▪ Buying the farm was the biggest mistake of her life.
learn from your mistakes
do things better after realizing you have made mistakes
▪ All I can say is, I think I’ve learnt from my mistakes.
▷ miscalculation /ˌmɪskælkjɑˈleɪʃ ə n/ [countable noun]
a mistake caused by planning something badly, and being wrong about the expected result :
▪ The President’s election defeat was the result of his own miscalculations.
▪ I thought if I told Mark everything, it would be OK. That was a bad miscalculation.
▷ error of judgment /ˌerər əv ˈdʒʌdʒmənt/ [noun phrase] formal
a mistake caused by judging a situation or person wrongly :
▪ In my opinion, appointing his son as chief executive was a serious error of judgment.
make an error of judgment
▪ New, inexperienced members of staff are more liable to make errors of judgment.
▷ be a bad move /biː ə ˌbæd ˈmuːv/ [verb phrase] informal
if something you do is a bad move, it is a mistake because it puts you in a bad or dangerous situation :
▪ He tried arguing with her. This was a bad move.
▪ Perhaps her resignation wasn’t such a bad move after all.
it is a bad move doing something
▪ It was a bad move letting him come here in the first place.
▷ blunder /ˈblʌndəʳ/ [countable noun]
a stupid mistake caused by not thinking carefully enough about what you are saying or doing, which could have very serious results :
▪ It seems to be another public relations blunder by the government.
▪ a series of management blunders
make a blunder
▪ She stopped, finally aware of the terrible blunder she had made.
▷ indiscretion /ˌɪndɪˈskreʃ ə n/ [countable noun]
a rather bad, silly, or immoral action by someone, especially someone in a public position - often used to make the action seem less bad :
youthful indiscretion
▪ He dismissed his past association with racist groups as a youthful indiscretion.
commit an indiscretion
▪ She confessed that she had committed a minor sexual indiscretion.
4. a silly mistake that causes social embarrassment
▷ put your foot in it especially British /put your foot in your mouth especially American /ˌpʊt jɔːʳ ˈfʊt ɪn ɪt, pʊt jɔːʳ ˌfʊt ɪn jɔːʳ ˈmaʊθ/ [verb phrase] informal
to make a stupid mistake by saying something that you should not say, for example because it upsets someone or because it is a secret :
▪ She’s a little weird isn’t she? Oh no, have I put my foot in my mouth? Is she a friend of yours?
▪ Simon wanted to finish the conversation before he put his foot in it any further.
▷ faux pas /ˌfəʊ ˈpɑː, ˈfəʊ pɑː/ [countable noun]
a mistake made by saying or doing something in a social situation that embarrasses other people :
▪ I asked her how Greg was, which was a bit of a faux pas considering they’d just split up.
commit/make a faux pas
▪ It was at that party that I committed the faux pas of spilling wine all over the host’s wife.
▷ gaffe /gæf/ [countable noun]
an embarrassing and stupid mistake made in a social situation or in public :
▪ When she realized she had mistaken him for his brother, she was horrified at her gaffe.
make a gaffe
▪ The minister is well known for making gaffes in his speeches.
5. to make a mistake
▷ make a mistake /ˌmeɪk ə mɪˈsteɪk/ [verb phrase]
▪ My spoken Spanish was okay, but I kept making mistakes in my written work.
▪ Don’t worry - everyone makes mistakes.
▷ get something wrong /ˌget something ˈrɒŋǁ-ˈrɔːŋ/ [verb phrase] especially spoken
to make a mistake in something that you do, say, or write, especially when this has bad or annoying results :
▪ I’ve been here a year now, and my boss still gets my name wrong!
▪ You’ve got your facts wrong, mate - he doesn’t work here any more.
get it wrong
deal with something in the wrong way
▪ Once again, the government has got it wrong.
▷ go wrong /ˌgəʊ ˈrɒŋǁ-ˈrɔːŋ/ [verb phrase]
to make a mistake at a particular stage in a process, for example, with the result that the whole thing is spoiled :
▪ Check your work again and see if you can spot where you went wrong.
▪ If you follow the easy step-by-step instructions, you really can’t go wrong.
▷ slip up /ˌslɪp ˈʌp/ [intransitive phrasal verb]
to make a careless mistake, especially so that you lose some advantage, or spoil a chance that you had :
▪ We’ll just have to hope that the other teams slip up.
slip up on
▪ He slipped up on just one detail.
▷ blunder /ˈblʌndəʳ/ [intransitive verb]
to make a stupid mistake, usually with very serious results :
▪ The government later admitted it had blundered in its handling of the affair.
▪ He realized he had blundered by picking such an experienced player for the team.
▷ goof/goof up /guːf, ˌguːf ˈʌp/ [intransitive verb] American informal
to make a silly mistake :
▪ You really goofed up this time!
▪ Some drivers admit they goofed. Others blame anyone except themselves.
▷ misjudge /mɪsˈdʒʌdʒ/ [transitive verb]
to make a mistake about a person, situation, or amount by wrongly thinking that they are one thing when in fact they are another :
▪ I’m sorry -- it seems I’ve misjudged you.
▪ It’s easy to misjudge the speed of a car heading toward you.
▪ In fact, the US generals had seriously misjudged the determination and endurance of the North Vietnamese.
▷ fall into the trap of doing something /ˌfɔːl ɪntə ðə ˌtræp əv ˈduːɪŋ something/ [verb phrase]
to do something that seems good at the time but is not sensible :
▪ Don’t fall into the trap of trying to be too clever.
▪ It is very easy for the mother to fall into the trap of offering the child only food that she knows the child likes.