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Erroneous vs Erratic - What's the difference?

erroneous | erratic |

As adjectives the difference between erroneous and erratic

is that erroneous is containing an error; inaccurate while erratic is unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent.

As a noun erratic is

a rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.

erroneous

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Containing an error; inaccurate.
  • * His answer to the sum was erroneous .
  • Derived from an error.
  • * His conclusion was erroneous as it was based on a false assumption.
  • Mistaken.
  • * His choice at the line-up was erroneous as he had only seen the mugger for an instant.
  • (legal) signifies a deviation from the requirements of the law, but does not connote a lack of legal authority, and is thus distinguished from illegal.
  • * If, while having the power to act, one commits error in the exercise of that power, he acts erroneously .

    • Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "erroneous" is often applied: impression, assumption, belief, conclusion, statement, idea, data, view, opinion, judgment, notion, decision, interpretation, diagnosis, conception, theory, reading, instruction, ruling, assessment, doctrine, advice, value, application, thinking, perception, principle, concept, action, description, record, determination, teaching, inference, premise, conviction, reasoning, argument, exclusion, calculation, inclusion, treatment, deductions, analysis.

    Synonyms

    * (containing an error) inaccurate, incorrect, wrong * (derived from an error) fallacious, false, faulty, flawed * (mistaken) mistaken, wrong *

    Derived terms

    * erroneously * erroneousness

    See also

    * fallacious

    erratic

    English

    Alternative forms

    * erratick, erraticke, erratique (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent
    • Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week.
  • Deviating from the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; odd.
    • erratic conduct

    Derived terms

    * erratically

    Antonyms

    * consistent

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.
  • * 2003 , (Bill Bryson), A Short History of Nearly Everything , BCA 2003, p. 372:
    • The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic , but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks.
  • Anything that has erratic characteristics.

    • Anagrams

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