Skip to main content

error

An error is a problem in software that prevents an operation from being completed correctly or causes an incorrect result.

In plain English

Something in the software has gone wrong. Because of that, an action cannot finish in the right way, or it ends with the wrong outcome.

In context

Here, "error" labels a message that reports a software problem that stopped an operation from being completed correctly or produced an incorrect result.

Situation
Reading processing, queue, validation, success, warning, and error messages
What it communicates
labels a message reporting that something went wrong

Meaning limits

The term alone does not say what caused the problem or whether it can be fixed.

Examples

“An error in the photo editor exported the image upside down.”

Core meaning

“When the user tried to print the page, the app showed an error.”

In context