Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use err in a sentence

18 example sentences · verb, interjection

Err means to make a mistake. Example: “He erred in his calculations, and made many mistakes.”

Examples of err by meaning

verbTo make a mistake.

  • He erred in his calculations, and made many mistakes.
  • Artificial tests, then, can hardly err on the side of supplying too many opportunities for one bird to see another perform the act which is the model.1910, James P. Porter, chapter 2, in Intelligence and Imitation in Birds; A Criterion of Imitation, page 7
  • Gorbachev’s phrase, “fear to err,” is strikingly reminiscent of President Roosevelt’s phrase, “nothing to fear but fear itself.”1989, L[eften] S[tavros] Stavrianos, Lifelines from Our Past: A New World History, New York: Pantheon Books, →ISBN, page 211

verbTo sin.

  • To err is human, to forgive, divine.

More sentences with err

  • To err is human; to forgive, divine.From the entry human
  • It is better to overdocument than not; thus, always err on the side of caution and overdocument.2012, Albert J. Marcella, Jr.; Frederic Guillossou, Cyber Forensics: From Data to Digital Evidence, page 279. From the entry overdocument
  • When making a trade, err on the side of overchecking the contract details.2010, Euan Sinclair, Option Trading: Pricing and Volatility Strategies and Techniques, page 20. From the entry overcheck
  • In any uncertain situation, government tends to err on the side of caution and delay.1976 Oct. 29, James J. Kilpatrick, "Bureaucracy Infects Drug Industry," St. Petersburg Independent/Washington Star Syndicate, p. 23-A…. From the entry err on the side of caution
  • Does the writer err on the side of underpunctuation or overpunctuation?1939, W[alter] W[ilbur] Hatfield, Senior English Activities, Boston, Mass.; Atlanta, Ga.; Dallas, Tex.; San Francisco, Calif.: American…. From the entry underpunctuation
  • Let us err, then, if we err, on the side of liberty.1914, Arthur Quiller-Couch, “On Style”, in On the Art of Writing. From the entry err on the side of
  • It is better to risk too broad a conception of religion than to err on the side of excessive restriction.2011, Robert Audi, Democratic Authority and the Separation of Church and State, →ISBN, page 72. From the entry definatory
  • They believe that in emphasizing the autonomy of Christian thinking, postliberalism errs as Barth did in overrelativizing the faith.1996, David K. Clark, “Relativism, Fideism & the Promise of Postliberalism”, in Timothy R. Phillips, Dennis L. Okholm, editors, The Nature…. From the entry overrelativize
  • To err is human, and even Jove nods.1903, Factory and Industrial Management, volume 24, page 760. From the entry even Jove nods
  • The sides took it in turns to err and excite before Newcastle flagged and Arsenal signalled their top-four credentials by blowing the visitors away.2012 December 29, Paul Doyle, “Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle”, in The Guardian. From the entry flag
  • Since it is impossible to second-guess what a user will want to look up, there is a general lexicographical rule of thumb to err on the side of inclusion.2016, James Lambert, “Ornithonymy and Lexicographical Selection Criteria”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 30, number 1…. From the entry rule of thumb
  • Interpreters err either when they allegorize discourse that is intended to be taken literally or when they "literalize" discourse that is intended to be taken figuratively.2014 August 20, Kevin Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in this Text?. From the entry literalistic
  • But many savers are more concerned with the safety of their deposits and are even spreading their money over several institutions to err on the side of caution.2008 September 17, Kara Gammell, “Cash in on the high interest rates”, in The Telegraph, UK, retrieved 01 Oct 2008. From the entry err on the side of caution
  • But H. errs, I believe: he should mean half-a-crown, for tusheroon and its C.20 variant tossaroon (2s. 6d.) are manifest corruptions of Lingua Franca MADZA CAROON.1961, Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang. From the entry tosh

Meaning of err

  1. verb To make a mistake.
  2. verb To sin.
  3. verb To stray.

Full definition of err

Questions about err in a sentence

How do you use err in a sentence?
Err is used as a verb and interjection. For example: “He erred in his calculations, and made many mistakes.”
What is a short sentence with err?
“To err is human, to forgive, divine.”
What does err mean?
Err means to make a mistake.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: err (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use err in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/err. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.