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oops

Pronunciation: /uːps/

The English word “oops” has 4 meanings listed here.

interjection

  1. Used to acknowledge a small mistake or accident.
  2. Used to indicate mild surprise or shock.

noun

  1. A minor mistake or unforeseen difficulty.

verb

  1. To make a mistake; to blunder.

Etymology

A presumably 'natural' exclamation, attested in writing since 1921. Related to or a variation of whoops (itself attested since 1933). A shortening of whoops-a-daisy, whoopsie-daisy, or oops-a-daisy, which in turn is a mispronunciation of ups-a-daisy or upsy-daisy.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.