Library / English Dictionary

MISTAKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: mistaken    , mistook   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention

Example:

I could understand his English in spite of his grammatical faults

Synonyms:

error; fault; mistake

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("mistake" is a kind of...):

nonaccomplishment; nonachievement (an act that does not achieve its intended goal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mistake"):

renege; revoke (the mistake of not following suit when able to do so)

betise; folly; foolishness; imbecility; stupidity (a stupid mistake)

balls-up; ballup; cockup; mess-up (something badly botched or muddled)

bloomer; blooper; blunder; boner; boo-boo; botch; bungle; flub; foul-up; fuckup; pratfall (an embarrassing mistake)

omission; skip (a mistake resulting from neglect)

lapse; oversight (a mistake resulting from inattention)

offside ((sport) the mistake of occupying an illegal position on the playing field (in football, soccer, ice hockey, field hockey, etc.))

miscue; parapraxis; slip; slip-up (a minor inadvertent mistake usually observed in speech or writing or in small accidents or memory lapses etc.)

distortion (the mistake of misrepresenting the facts)

miscalculation; misestimation; misreckoning (a mistake in calculating)

incursion (the mistake of incurring liability or blame)

confusion; mix-up (a mistake that results from taking one thing to be another)

blot; smear; smirch; spot; stain (an act that brings discredit to the person who does it)

Derivation:

mistake (to make a mistake or be incorrect)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An understanding of something that is not correct

Example:

there must be some misunderstanding--I don't have a sister

Synonyms:

misapprehension; mistake; misunderstanding

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("mistake" is a kind of...):

misconception (an incorrect conception)

Derivation:

mistake (to make a mistake or be incorrect)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Part of a statement that is not correct

Example:

the book was full of errors

Synonyms:

error; mistake

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("mistake" is a kind of...):

misstatement (a statement that contains a mistake)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mistake"):

corrigendum (a printer's error; to be corrected)

erratum; literal; literal error; misprint; typo; typographical error (a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind)

Derivation:

mistake (to make a mistake or be incorrect)

 II. (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 "mistake"):

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:

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

mistake (an understanding of something that is not correct)

mistake (part of a statement that is not correct)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Identify incorrectly

Example:

Don't mistake her for her twin sister

Synonyms:

misidentify; mistake

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

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

identify (consider to be equal or the same)

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

confound; confuse (mistake one thing for another)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

mistaking (putting the wrong interpretation on)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“It is a mistake, sir,” said Fanny instantly; “it must be a mistake, it cannot be true; it must mean some other people.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The cause of MSI may be a defect in the ability to repair mistakes made when DNA is copied in the cell.

(MSI, NCI Dictionary)

If you have lupus, your immune system attacks healthy cells and tissues by mistake.

(Lupus, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

A systematic review of source code intended to find and fix mistakes possibly overlooked in the initial development phase.

(Device Source Code Review Evaluation Method, Food and Drug Administration)

I am afraid there had been some mistake; and I wish you particularly to assure Captain Harville and Captain Wentworth, that we hope to see them both.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The act of offering an improvement to replace a mistake; setting right; something substituted for an error.

(Correction, NCI Thesaurus)

Having had errors or mistakes removed.

(Corrected, NCI Thesaurus)

But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake.

(Autoimmune Diseases, NIH)

“But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Farm upon the left.”

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

No complaint had been lodged with the police, so that Beddoes had mistaken a threat for a deed.

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