mistake
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English mistaken, from Old Norse mistaka (“to take in error, to miscarry”), equivalent to mis- + take. Cognate with Icelandic mistaka (“to mistake”), Swedish misstaga (“to mistake”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
mistake (plural mistakes)
- An error; a blunder.
- 1877, Henry Heth, quoting Robert E. Lee, in "Causes of the Defeat of Gen. Lee's Army at the Battle of GettysburgOpinions of Leading Confederate Soldiers.", Southern Historical Society Papers (1877), editor Rev. J. WM. Jones [1]
- After it is all over, as stupid a fellow as I am can see that mistakes were made. I notice, however, that my mistakes are never told me until it is too late.
- 1877, Henry Heth, quoting Robert E. Lee, in "Causes of the Defeat of Gen. Lee's Army at the Battle of GettysburgOpinions of Leading Confederate Soldiers.", Southern Historical Society Papers (1877), editor Rev. J. WM. Jones [1]
- (baseball) A pitch which was intended to be pitched in a hard-to-hit location, but instead ends up in an easy-to-hit place.
Synonyms[edit]
- See also Wikisaurus:error
Usage notes[edit]
- Usually make a mistake. See Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
an error
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Verb[edit]
mistake (third-person singular simple present mistakes, present participle mistaking, simple past mistook, past participle mistaken)
- (transitive) To understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else.
- Sorry, I mistook you for my brother. You look very similar.
- Shakespeare
- My father's purposes have been mistook.
- Johnson
- A man may mistake the love of virtue for the practice of it.
- (intransitive) To commit an unintentional error; to do or think something wrong.
- Jonathan Swift
- Servants mistake, and sometimes occasion misunderstanding among friends.
- Jonathan Swift
- (obsolete, rare) To take or choose wrongly.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
Translations[edit]
to take one thing for another
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To make an error
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
Related terms[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English words prefixed with mis-
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Baseball
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with rare senses
- Requests for quotation/Shakespeare
- English basic words
- English irregular verbs
