1. be mistaken or incorrect; make a mistake: formal"the judge had erred in ruling that the evidence was inadmissible"Similarmake a mistakebe wrongbe in errorbe mistakenmistakemake a blunderblunderbe incorrectbe inaccuratemisjudgemiscalculateget things/something/it wrongbark up the wrong treeget the wrong end of the stickbe wide of the markinformal:slip upscrew upblow itfoul upgooffluff somethingmake a hash of somethingput one's foot in itmake a boo-boodrop a brickboobinformal, dated:make a bloomervulgar slang:bugger something upOppositebe right
▪ fail to adhere to the proper or accepted standards; do wrong:formal"he has erred and strayed as many of us have"Similarmisbehavedo wronggo wrongbehave badlymisconduct oneselfbe badbe naughtyget up to mischiefget up to no goodact upact badlygive someone troublecause someone troublesingo astraytransgresstrespassfall from gracelapsedegenerateclown aboutclown aroundfool aboutfool aroundact the clownact the foolact the goatact foolishlyforget oneselfinformal:mess aboutmess aroundmuck aboutmuck aroundplay up
Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘wander, go astray’): from Old French errer, from Latin errare ‘to stray’.
