Phrase guide

lapsus oculi

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌlæpsəs ˈɒkjʊlaɪ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌlæpsəs ˈɑkjəˌlaɪ/

1

noun

Meaning 1

An error that results from looking in the wrong place, especially one that occurs while copying or translating a body of text.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: formal, rare

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Narrower terms: misreading

History

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin lāpsus oculī (literally “slip of the eye”), from lāpsus (“slipping; (figurative, rare) error”) + oculī (genitive of oculus (“eye”)).

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: lapsus oculi — error that results from looking in the wrong place
  • French: lapsus oculi — error that results from looking in the wrong place
  • Latin: lāpsus oculī — error that results from looking in the wrong place