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oops

OOPS/uːps/

Noun pluraloopses, oops

Verboopses, oopsing, oopsed

3 meanings of oops

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  1. 1
    interjectioncolloquial
    Used to acknowledge a small mistake or minor accident, often spoken right as it happens.

    Oops, I sent that email to the wrong person.

    She knocked the vase off the shelf and muttered, "Oops."

    Similarwhoops, uh-oh, oopsy

  2. 2
    nouncountable
    A minor mistake or an unexpected difficulty.

    The launch went smoothly apart from one small oops with the seating chart.

    A couple of oopses in the early code never reached the final release.

    Similarmistake, slip, hiccup, glitch

  3. 3
    verbcolloquialintransitive
    To make a mistake or blunder, usually a minor one.

    Sorry, I oopsed and booked the wrong date for the meeting.

    It's easy to oops when you're rushing through a long checklist.

    Similargoof, slip, blunder, err

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Origin

A presumably 'natural' exclamation, first attested in writing in 1921. It is related to or a variation of "whoops" (attested since 1933) and is a shortening of "whoops-a-daisy," "whoopsie-daisy," or "oops-a-daisy," which are themselves a mispronunciation of "ups-a-daisy" or "upsy-daisy."