correction
Pluralcorrections
- 1The act of putting right something that is wrong or inaccurate.
The judge ordered the correction of the official record.
Quick correction of the data prevented a costly mistake.
Similarrectification, amendment
Note
Behind every sense of the word lies Latin corrēctiō, which reached English through Old French correccion and Middle English correccioun. English also took the Latin form directly, so correctio survives beside it as a separate word, a doublet. Here the noun names the activity itself. It works uncountably (prompt correction of the data) and countably when individual acts of putting right are counted.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Correction derives from Latin corrēctiō through Old French correccion and Middle English correccioun. en.wiktionary.org
- English also borrowed Latin corrēctiō directly as correctio, a separate word and doublet of correction. en.wiktionary.org
- 2
- 3Punishment intended to reform an offender rather than simply to penalize.
The reform movement favored correction over lengthy imprisonment.
She devoted her career to correction within the juvenile system.
Similarrehabilitation, reform
Note
Mostly heard in the plural, where corrections names the whole field of reforming offenders as a single institution. The singular survives as an uncountable noun in pairings like David A. DeNeef's "the entire machinery of law enforcement and correction" (1973). Keep it apart from the general act of correcting. Here what is being put right is a person, not a record or a figure.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- David A. DeNeef wrote the words "the entire machinery of law enforcement and correction". en.wiktionary.org
- The quotation was published in 1973. digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu
- 4A decline in stock market prices following a period of rises, often defined as a fall of ten percent or more on a given index.
Analysts warned that a correction was overdue after the long rally.
Stock prices fell into a correction before recovering by year's end.
- 5An amount or quantity added or subtracted in order to make something accurate.
Engineers added a correction to account for the instrument's drift.
The final figure included a correction for air pressure.
Similaradjustment
- 6A radio operator's signal that previously transmitted information was wrong, followed by the corrected version from the last correctly transmitted word onward.
The signaler broke in with a correction before reading back the amended coordinates.
Voice procedure requires a clear correction whenever a group is misspoken.
Note
Radio operators say it about their own transmission, in mid-message, not about someone else's. The speaker says the word and then repeats from the last item that was right. A misread grid reference is given again in full, as in "Correction: Grid three-niner-niner-four-eight-five", even when only the final digit changed. Restating the whole group means the listener never has to splice a fragment into what was already heard.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- In the described procedure, operators use CORRECTION for an error in their own transmission and resume from the last correctly transmitted word, group or phrase. digital.library.unt.edu
- The corrected group is repeated in full even when only its final digit changes; the grid-reference quotation is an illustrative example. digital.library.unt.edu
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English correccioun, from Old French correccion (modern French correction), from Latin corrēctiō. It is a doublet of correctio.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Correction comes from Middle English correccioun. en.wiktionary.org
- The Middle English word comes from Old French correccion, corresponding to modern French correction. en.wiktionary.org
- The Old French word derives from Latin corrēctiō. etymonline.com
- Correction is a doublet of correctio. en.wiktionary.org