- error
- nounADJECTIVE▪ egregious (esp. AmE), fundamental, glaring, grave, great, grievous, major, serious▪
The report contained some glaring errors.
▪ fatal▪He made the fatal error of borrowing more than he could pay back.
▪ minor, small▪ careless▪ embarrassing, unfortunate▪ past▪The ability to learn from past errors is vital in business.
▪ common▪ grammar (esp. AmE), grammatical, spelling, typing, typographical▪ factual▪ experimental, statistical▪ standard (statistics)▪ random, systematic▪ measurement (esp. AmE), sampling▪His research interests include measurement error in survey research.
▪ rounding (esp. AmE)▪The difference is due to a rounding error in the first calculation.
▪ unforced (sports)▪The American produced five double faults and 35 unforced errors.
▪ tactical▪The Kenyan athlete made a tactical error in starting too fast.
▪ administrative, clerical, medical▪ human, pilot▪The plane crash was caused by human error, not mechanical failure.
VERB + ERROR▪ commit, make▪He had committed a grave error in letting them see the document.
▪She made several serious errors during the race.
▪ cause▪errors caused by illegibly written orders
▪ contain▪The document contained a lot of typing errors.
▪ introduce▪An editorial error was introduced into the copy.
▪ catch (esp. AmE), detect, discover, find, identify, spot▪Thank you for catching that silly error on my part.
▪I found several factual errors in the report.
▪ point out▪The error was pointed out to her by one of her colleagues.
▪ report▪ realize, recognize▪I only realized my error when it was too late.
▪ acknowledge, admit▪Have the courage to admit your error.
▪ avoid▪She has avoided the common error of writing too much.
▪ prevent▪ repeat▪Do not repeat the errors of your parents and grandparents.
▪ correct, eliminate, fix (esp. AmE), rectify▪Glasses can correct most errors in your vision.
▪ minimize (esp. AmE), reduce▪the use of computer systems to reduce hospital errors
▪ regret (esp. AmE)▪We regret the clerical error made in the letter sent to Mr Finlay.
▪ compound▪The paper accidentally printed the victim's address, then compounded their error by printing her name the next day.
ERROR + VERB▪ arise (from sth), occur, result (from sth)▪errors arising from inadequate information
ERROR + NOUN▪ detection▪ correction▪ message▪An error message comes up when I try to open the program.
▪ rate▪machines with relatively high error rates
PREPOSITION▪ in error (= by mistake)▪The machine had been switched off in error.
▪ error in▪He checked his letter for errors in spelling.
▪He realized his error in not attending the funeral.
PHRASES▪ a comedy of errors▪His attempts to arrange a party ended up as a comedy of errors.
▪ an error in judgement/judgment (esp. AmE), an error of judgement/judgment (esp. BrE)▪The president had made an amazing error of judgement.
▪ an error of fact▪The speech contained many errors of fact.
▪ a margin of error▪The margin of error for a racing driver is tiny.
▪ the error of one's ways▪Will they realize the error of their ways before it is too late?
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
