Library / English Dictionary

ERR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To make a mistake or be incorrect

Synonyms:

err; mistake; slip

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "err"):

misremember (remember incorrectly)

slip up; stumble; trip up (make an error)

misjudge (judge incorrectly)

fall for (be deceived, duped, or entrapped by)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

errancy (fallibility as indicated by erring or a tendency to err)

error (a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention)

error (inadvertent incorrectness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Wander from a direct course or at random

Example:

don't drift from the set course

Synonyms:

drift; err; stray

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "err" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

cast; drift; ramble; range; roam; roll; rove; stray; swan; tramp; vagabond; wander (move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

errant (uncontrolled motion that is irregular or unpredictable)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Now and again, however, it chanced that even when he erred, the truth was still discovered.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“No, I do not,” said Fanny softly, hoping she did not err either in the belief or the acknowledgment of it.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“Come, come,” said Holmes, kindly, “it is human to err, and at least no one can accuse you of being a callous criminal.”

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And right here Baseek erred.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

No, no; she has qualities which may be trusted; she will never lead any one really wrong; she will make no lasting blunder; where Emma errs once, she is in the right a hundred times.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

In that point, however, and that only, he erred;—for though Lucy soon gave him hopes that his eloquence would convince her in TIME, another visit, another conversation, was always wanted to produce this conviction.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

You have erred, perhaps, he observed, taking up a glowing cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood—you have erred perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is really the only notable feature about the thing.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you err wilfully, I shall devise a proportionate punishment.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I may err—I am but man; but I believe in all I do.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Both the god and the clod schools erred, in Martin's estimation, and erred through too great singleness of sight and purpose.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)