Make Your Point > Archived Issues > ERRONEOUS
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pronounce
ERRONEOUS:
Say it "eh RO nee yus."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
See if you can recall this harsher synonym of flawed, faulty, mistaken, and erroneous:
Something f______ous is wrong and illogical, possibly the product of lazy thinking or outright lying.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
Our word "erroneous" traces back to the Latin errare, meaning "to wander off, to go astray, to be incorrect." It's closely related to the words "err," "error," and "errancy."
In English, "erroneous" dates back to 1464. It first meant "wandering around," then in a more figurative sense, "straying from what's considered good, right, proper, or legal."
These days, we most often use "erroneous" to mean "having errors or mistakes: not correct, not accurate, or not truthful."
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Adjective: "an erroneous claim;" "Their conclusions are erroneous."
Other forms:
Erroneously, erroneousness.
how to use it:
"Erroneous" is a common word and quite formal. So formal that it can sound stiff, or at least very hands-off.
Compared to harsher words like "false" or "wrong," the word "erroneous" gives us a gentler, more tactful, more objective way of describing something flawed or incorrect. To call something erroneous is to hint that the person responsible for it may have just been mistaken, misinformed, or confused--rather than malicious or lying on purpose.
We talk about erroneous data, statements, information, beliefs, theories, assumptions, conclusions, histories, explanations, interpretations, or representations; or more specifically, erroneous names, dates, or numbers. Fees and charges, too, can be erroneous.
examples:
"The erroneous reports streaked across social media."
— Paul Farhi, Washington Post, 2 July 2015
"'Stainless steel and glass meld seamlessly to minimize bezel,' says the video's narrator. Wait, what? The company never mentioned anything about switching from aluminum to steel during press briefings... It's odd that such an erroneous voiceover made it into a promotional video."
— Chris Welch, The Verge, 9 August 2019
has this page helped you understand "erroneous"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "erroneous" without saying "error-riddled" or "not correct."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(At a particular time in the past), I held the erroneous notion that _____."
Example: "Until about age eight, I held the erroneous notion that all adults know exactly what they're doing."
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game for September is "Four Quick Ways to Wreck a Sentence: From Professionally Polished to Strategically Sabotaged."
In each issue this month, compare two versions of a description of a popular movie. See if you can determine which is the real one (the professionally polished version from IMDB.com) and which is the fake one (the strategically sabotaged version from yours truly). The fake one will demonstrate one of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence, listed below. So, for an extra challenge, see if you can identify which of these four has been employed in the act of sabotage.
Here are the four quick ways to wreck a sentence:
1. Make the details fuzzier or fewer.
2. Jumble the order of information, forcing the reader to slow down or back up.
3. Ruin the rhythm by breaking a pattern in a pair or list.
4. Make the whole thing a chore to read by swapping in a subject that's long or abstract, and/or a verb that's vague or passive. Make it even worse by pushing the subject and the verb really far away from each other.
(Naturally, if you invert each item above, you get Four Quick Ways to Strengthen a Sentence.)
Here's an example:
Version A: "The Shawshank Redemption: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency."
Version B: "The Shawshank Redemption: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding eventual redemption and solace through acts of common decency."
Which is real, and which is fake? And in the fake one, which of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence have I employed?
Answer: A is real; B is fake. The fake was created with #2, "Jumble the order of information." Readers find it easier to process information when it's in a logical or chronological order, and when they can start with the shorter, simpler words and phrases before moving on to the longer, more complex ones. Here, it's better to write "solace and eventual redemption" instead of "eventual redemption and solace," for three reasons. One, the characters in the story probably achieve solace before they achieve redemption; two, solace as a concept is less intense and less abstract than redemption; and three, "solace" is many syllables shorter than "eventual redemption."
Try this one today:
Version A: "Fight Club: An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more."
Version B: "Fight Club: An office worker and a soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more."
Which is real, and which is fake? And in the fake one, which of the four quick ways to wreck a sentence have I employed?
To see the answers, scroll all the way down.
review this word:
A. TENDENTIOUS (biased toward a particular opinion).
B. CAPRICIOUS (changing all the time in an unpredictable way).
C. VERACIOUS (truthful and accurate in a detailed, thorough way).
2.
In the book Big Science, Michael Hiltzik wrote, "Some of [Robert Oppenheimer's] most famous papers are _____, occasionally leading to erroneous conclusions."
A. studded with hesitant qualifiers
B. filled with startlingly elegant calculations
C. marred by rudimentary mathematical errors
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
On vocabulary...
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
See if you can recall this harsher synonym of flawed, faulty, mistaken, and erroneous:
Our word "erroneous" traces back to the Latin errare, meaning "to wander off, to go astray, to be incorrect." It's closely related to the words "err," "error," and "errancy."
Part of speech:
"Erroneous" is a common word and quite formal. So formal that it can sound stiff, or at least very hands-off.
"The erroneous reports streaked across social media."
Explain the meaning of "erroneous" without saying "error-riddled" or "not correct."
Fill in the blanks: "(At a particular time in the past), I held the erroneous notion that _____."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |