Did you know?
Is it human to err?
Many people are familiar with the word err from encountering it in the epigram “to err is human; to forgive, divine.” This phrase is found in Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Criticism, from 1711. Earlier expressions of the same sentiment exist, as in Thomas Jones’ 1678 book, Of the Heart, and its Right Soveraign, which contains the line “to err, is human, to recover, is Angelical; to persevere is Diabolical.”
Err is also often found in the phrase err on the side of caution, to suggest that being overly cautious is better than not being cautious enough.
Err stems from the Latin word errare, meaning “to stray, wander,” and it retained that meaning when it first entered English. We find the same Latin ancestor at the root of the words error, erratic, and erroneous.
Examples of err in a Sentence
Judy Berman, Time, 11 Apr. 2025
Griffin launched a legal challenge and on April 4, a three-judge panel of the North Carolina court of appeals ruled 2-1 that the state's elections board erred in dismissing Griffin's protests about invalid election ballots.
—John W. Dean, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Apr. 2025
Legally speaking, Leiter told me, Gay and the other university presidents who appeared before the congressional committee had erred in letting their examiners shift the focus from speech rights to the Title VI question of campus discipline.
—Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025
There are often things best altered or shifted in novel adaptations, and a screen version can certainly err by being too true to the text.
—Anthony Paletta, The Washington Examiner, 28 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for err
Cite this Entry
“Err.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/err. Accessed 6 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Legal Definition
err
intransitive verb
Share