# oops

Pronunciation: say "OOPS" /uːps/

## Interjection

1. Used to acknowledge a small mistake or minor accident, often spoken right as it happens. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Said when you suddenly notice a small mistake or accident.
   - _Oops, I sent that email to the wrong person._
   - _She knocked the vase off the shelf and muttered, "Oops."_

## Noun

2. A minor mistake or an unexpected difficulty.
   - Simple: A small mistake or a problem you did not expect.
   - _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._

## Verb

3. To make a mistake or blunder, usually a minor one. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To make a small mistake by accident.
   - _Sorry, I oopsed and booked the wrong date for the meeting._
   - _It's easy to oops when you're rushing through a long checklist._

## 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."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/oops (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).