mistake
( mistakes plural & 3rd person present) ( mistaking present participle) ( mistook past tense) ( mistaken past participle )
1 n-count If you make a mistake, you do something which you did not intend to do, or which produces a result that you do not want.
oft N of -ing, also by N
They made the big mistake of thinking they could seize its border with a relatively small force..., I think it's a serious mistake to confuse books with life..., There must be some mistake..., He has been arrested by mistake.
2 n-count A mistake is something or part of something which is incorrect or not right.
(=error)
Her mother sighed and rubbed out another mistake in the crossword puzzle., ...spelling mistakes.
3 verb If you mistake one person or thing for another, you wrongly think that they are the other person or thing.
I mistook you for Carlos... V n for n
4 verb If you mistake something, you fail to recognize or understand it.
(=misjudge)
The government completely mistook the feeling of the country... V n
No one should mistake how serious the issue is. V wh
5 You can say there is no mistaking something when you are emphasizing that you cannot fail to recognize or understand it.
♦
there's no mistaking phrase V inflects, PHR n (emphasis)
There's no mistaking the eastern flavour of the food...
Translation English - Cobuild Collins Dictionary
mistake
n
1 bloomer (Brit. informal) blunder, boob (Brit. slang) boo-boo (informal) clanger (informal) erratum, error, error of judgment, false move, fault, faux pas, gaffe, goof (informal) howler (informal) inaccuracy, miscalculation, misconception, misstep, misunderstanding, oversight, slip, slip-up (informal) solecism
vb
2 get wrong, misapprehend, misconceive, misconstrue, misinterpret, misjudge, misread, misunderstand
3 accept as, confound, confuse with, misinterpret as, mix up with, take for
4 be wide of or be off the mark, be wrong, blunder, boob (Brit. slang) drop a clanger (informal) err, goof (informal) miscalculate, misjudge, put one's foot in it (informal) slip up (informal)
English Collins Dictionary - English synonyms & Thesaurus
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"Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners 4th edition published in 2003 © HarperCollins Publishers 1987, 1995, 2001, 2003 and Collins A-Z Thesaurus 1st edition first published in 1995 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995"