ERROR meaning: 1. a mistake: 2. a wrong decision: 3. to understand that you were wrong to behave in a particular…. Learn more. Calculate percent error given estimated or experimental values and theoretical actual values. Calculator shows work and calculates absolute error and relative error. To see, recognize, acknowledge, etc., the error of your ways is to admit that you have been doing something wrong or behaving badly and to stop doing it. Congress recognized the error of its ways and repealed the law. He publicly acknowledged the error of his ways and asked for forgiveness. An error may also be an exception, which is something that happens unexpectedly. For example, it is an error to try to write more files onto a disk that is full. Some common synonyms of error are blunder, lapse, mistake, and slip. While all these words mean a departure from what is true, right, or proper, error suggests the existence of a standard or guide and a straying from the right course through failure to make effective use of this. Simply put, an error is a mistake. However, that mistake is more likely due to a lapse in judgment or skill than to an accident. A plane crash that occurs after the pilot mistakenly presses the pilot eject button is said to be caused by human error. One reference differentiates between error and mistake as follows: An 'error' is a deviation from accuracy or correctness. A 'mistake' is an error caused by a fault: the fault being misjudgment, carelessness, or forgetfulness. ERROR definition: 1. a mistake: 2. a wrong decision: 3. to understand that you were wrong to behave in a particular…. Learn more. error, mistake, blunder, slip, lapse mean a departure from what is true, right, or proper. error suggests the existence of a standard or guide and a straying from the right course through failure to make effective use of this. 1. a deviation from accuracy or correctness; mistake. 2. the holding of mistaken opinions. 3. the condition of believing what is not true: I was in error about the date. 4. a moral offense. 5. a baseball misplay allowing a batter to reach base or a runner to advance.