err Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb to make a mistake or be incorrect
    slip; mistake.
  2. verb wander from a direct course or at random
    drift; stray.
    • The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her
    • don't drift from the set course

WordNet

Err intransitive verb
Etymology
F. errer, L. errare; akin to G. irren, OHG. irran, v. t., irrn, v. i., OS. irrien, Sw. irra, Dan. irre, Goth, aírzjan to lead astray, airzise astray.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Erred ; present participle & verbal noun Erring
Definitions
  1. To wander; to roam; to stray. Archaic "Why wilt thou err from me?" Keble.
    What seemeth to you, if there were to a man an hundred sheep and one of them hath erred. Wyclif (Matt. xviii. 12).
  2. To deviate from the true course; to miss the thing aimed at. "My jealous aim might err." Shak.
  3. To miss intellectual truth; to fall into error; to mistake in judgment or opinion; to be mistaken.
    The man may err in his judgment of circumstances. Tillotson.
  4. To deviate morally from the right way; to go astray, in a figurative sense; to do wrong; to sin.
    Do they not err that devise evil? Prov. xiv. 22.
  5. To offend, as by erring.

Webster 1913