What's the difference between mistake and pitfall?

Mistake


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To make or form amiss; to spoil in making.
  • (v. t.) To take or choose wrongly.
  • (v. t.) To take in a wrong sense; to misunderstand misapprehend, or misconceive; as, to mistake a remark; to mistake one's meaning.
  • (v. t.) To substitute in thought or perception; as, to mistake one person for another.
  • (v. t.) To have a wrong idea of in respect of character, qualities, etc.; to misjudge.
  • (v. i.) To err in knowledge, perception, opinion, or judgment; to commit an unintentional error.
  • (n.) An apprehending wrongly; a misconception; a misunderstanding; a fault in opinion or judgment; an unintentional error of conduct.
  • (n.) Misconception, error, which when non-negligent may be ground for rescinding a contract, or for refusing to perform it.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Based upon the analysis of 1015 case records of patients, aged 16-70, with different hip joint pathology types, carried out during 1985-1990, there were revealed mistakes and complications after reconstructive-restorative operations.
  • (2) But to treat a mistake as an automatic disqualification for advancement – even as heinous a mistake as presiding over a botched operation that resulted in the killing of an innocent man – could be depriving organisations, and the country, of leaders who have been tested and will not make the same mistake again.
  • (3) It's a mistake to say Etonians are as they are because of their families.
  • (4) Conservationists have warned that they can affect fish growth and persist in the guts of mussels and fish that mistake them for food.
  • (5) After trading mistakes, Wawrinka got lucky at 30-30, mishitting a service return and fooling Djokovic.
  • (6) Masutha said the parole board had made a mistake when they approved Pistorius for early release, but his intervention has been widely criticised by legal experts.
  • (7) After winning his prize, Malcolm Turnbull must learn from Abbott's mistakes Read more Abbott appointed Warren Mundine to head his hand picked advisory council on Indigenous affairs.
  • (8) BUSH ON IRAQ TONIGHT: Mr President, if I can move on to the question of Iraq, when we last spoke before the Iraq war, I asked you about Saddam Hussein and you said this, and I quote: "He harbours and develops weapons of mass destruction, make no mistake about it."
  • (9) I believe Flower when he promises he would not repeat his mistake.
  • (10) He admitted to "very serious mistakes", highlighting problems with the party's channels of communication.
  • (11) But Wawrinka, who seemed to be flexing his knee a moment ago, is making more mistakes.
  • (12) "Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we've made some mistakes.
  • (13) The most common provoking factor in case of status and series were medication mistakes.
  • (14) The UN already made a mistake, they broke their own rule.
  • (15) Make no mistake about who the chief beneficiaries are.
  • (16) He added that the appearance this week on Libyan television of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi showed it had been a mistake by the Scottish justice minister to release him on compassionate grounds in 2009.
  • (17) Other parents are going to have to look into it, because I’ve made a big mistake moving him.
  • (18) Mistakes in maternity care account for a third of the £1bn a year the NHS has to spend settling medical negligence claims.
  • (19) These figures cast doubt on health secretary Jeremy Hunt's claim that the rise in A&E attendances was due to Labour's "historic mistake" in 2004 to let GPs no longer take responsibility for providing out-of-hours care.
  • (20) We make mistakes, and fall victim to the temptations of pride, and power, and sometimes evil.

Pitfall


Definition:

  • (n.) A pit deceitfully covered to entrap wild beasts or men; a trap of any kind.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Respiratory alteration in the intensity of heart sounds is one of the commonest auscultatory pitfalls.
  • (2) Pitfalls which may lead to overinterpretation are discussed.
  • (3) This article examines AIDS- and HIV-related concerns in women with a focus on the personal dilemmas for the practicing psychologist, problems in health behavior advocacy, and methods and pitfalls in modifying sexual behaviors.
  • (4) We describe an instrument designed specifically to avoid the pitfalls of intraoperative chest tube placement.
  • (5) Diagnostic pitfalls can generally be avoided by insisting on the opportunity for clinical-radiologic-pathologic correlation ("triangulation") before a final diagnosis is made.
  • (6) If the scientific community does not take steps to avoid such pitfalls in developmental screening, it invites those who make health care decisions to eliminate such screening or to mandate procedures which may not be scientifically sound.
  • (7) Diagnostic information derived from PA catheters should be related to the clinical condition and shortcomings and pitfalls of data clearly understood.
  • (8) A discussion is given of the advantages, disadvantages, and pitfalls of computerized tomography of the masticator space.
  • (9) Subsequent culture is desirable but not always possible.A simple scheme for identifying fungi and fungus-like organisms is presented based on general morphology, staining, and other special characteristics with notes on types of tissue reactions and common pitfalls.
  • (10) Similarly, many pitfalls may be circumvented by the simple expedient of close collaboration between urologist and radiologist, and by the reluctance of either to accept urography that is suboptimal by current standards.
  • (11) In addition, we illustrate several pitfalls encountered in membrane studies which exploit lipid-requiring organisms.
  • (12) Based on the pitfalls of the past the development of pancreatic resection therapy is outlined, starting with the first distal pancreatic resection in 1882 performed by Trendelenburg.
  • (13) To avoid the pitfalls of misdiagnosis and mismanagement, the nature of Crohn's disease should be understood and the gynecologic aspects of the disease recognized.
  • (14) Rational use of rigid fixation in hand surgery requires awareness of the advantages as well as the potential pitfalls of this relatively complex method of fracture management.
  • (15) This case illustrates the pitfalls in diagnosis of a chronic polyarthritis that has, as a typical feature, a long latency before manifesting its more specific signs and symptoms (ie, diarrhea, malabsorption, and hyperpigmentation).
  • (16) Experience with 150 cases of fresh femoral fractures and more than 80 cases of non-union of the femur, the tibia, the humerus and the forearm, demonstrates that thorough familiarity with the instrumentation and the pitfalls of the technique, as well as the correct clinical indications of the method are critical to the achievement of good results.
  • (17) Pitfalls in diagnosis led to late recognition and therapy in three patients, with subsequent serious complications; namely, arteriovenous fistula, false aneurysm, and amputation.
  • (18) Requirements, possibilities, and pitfalls of electrolyte (sodium, potassium, and chloride) analysis are reviewed within the light of the experiences in the Academic Hospital St. Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
  • (19) Discussion of the pitfalls in multiple regression analysis, and possible alternative approaches is largely based on two recent reviews and includes references to recent developments of robust techniques.
  • (20) It is simple to study mutation to resistance to a drug, for example, ouabain or azaguanine, but, as we discussed, there are technical and conceptual pitfalls.