Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Mistake

Mis·take′ (mĭs·tāk′), v. t. [imp. & obs. p. p. Mistook (- to͝ok′); p. p. Mistaken (-tāk′'n); p. pr. & vb. n. Mistaking.] [Pref. mis- + take: cf. Icel. mistaka.] 1. To take or choose wrongly. [Obs. or R.] Shak.

2. To take in a wrong sense; to misunderstand misapprehend, or misconceive; as, to mistake a remark; to mistake one's meaning. Locke.

My father's purposes have been mistook. Shak.

3. To substitute in thought or perception; as, to mistake one person for another.

A man may mistake the love of virtue for the practice of it. Johnson.

4. To have a wrong idea of in respect of character, qualities, etc.; to misjudge.

Mistake me not so much, To think my poverty is treacherous. Shak.

Mis·take′, v. i. To err in knowledge, perception, opinion, or judgment; to commit an unintentional error.

Servants mistake, and sometimes occasion misunderstanding among friends. Swift.

Mis·take′ (mĭs·tāk′), n. 1. An apprehending wrongly; a misconception; a misunderstanding; a fault in opinion or judgment; an unintentional error of conduct.

Infallibility is an absolute security of the understanding from all possibility of mistake. Tillotson.

2. (Law) Misconception, error, which when non-negligent may be ground for rescinding a contract, or for refusing to perform it.

No mistake, surely; without fail; as, it will happen at the appointed time, and no mistake. [Low]

Syn. — Blunder; error; bull. See Blunder.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.