Meaning & use
error of commission
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A mistake that occurs because someone did something wrong, such as giving the wrong dose, rather than failing to do something needed.
Grammar: Plural is errors of commission: the first noun changes, not commission.
Patterns
- an error of commission by someone
Giving a patient the wrong medicine was an error of commission, not simply a missed step.
The audit found one error of commission: a figure had been entered twice.
An error of commission is often easier to spot than something that was never done.
Word forms
| plural | errors of commission |
|---|
Common combinations
- make an error of commission
- The clerk made an error of commission by approving the wrong invoice.
- classify as an error of commission
- The hospital classified the mix-up as an error of commission.
- errors of commission and omission
- The report separates errors of commission and omission.
- a serious error of commission
- Sending the wrong file to the client was a serious error of commission.
Synonyms and how they differ
- blunder
- Blunder is informal and suggests a clumsy mistake, while error of commission is a precise, formal label for a wrong action taken.
- mistake
- Mistake is the everyday word for any error, but it does not say whether the person acted wrongly or failed to act.
- wrongful act
- Wrongful act sounds legal and implies blame, whereas error of commission can describe an honest slip.
Opposites
Word family
- commit verb
- to do something, especially something wrong, such as an error
- commission noun
- the act of doing something
- error noun
- a mistake
- omission noun
- something left out or not done
Commonly confused: error of commission or error of omission?
error of commission vs error of omission
An error of omission is a failure to do something that should have been done, such as forgetting to give a dose. An error of commission is doing the wrong thing.
Practice
A nurse gives a patient twice the right dose of a drug. Which type of mistake is this?
Choose one answer.
The nurse did something wrongly, so it is an error of commission. An error of omission would be forgetting to give the dose at all.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “error of commission”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.