oops
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
oops¹
- /uːps/ UK
- /ʊps/ UK
- /ʉwps/ British, Southern, Standard
- /ɵps/ British, Southern, Standard
- /ups/ US
- /ʊps/ US
- /ʉːps/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ʊps/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ʉps/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
Rhymes with -uːps, -ʊps
Where it comes from
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.
interjection
-
Used to acknowledge a small mistake or accident.
Oops! I left the lid off the ketchup.
Similar: oopsy, uh-oh, whoops, whoops-a-daisy
-
Used to indicate mild surprise or shock.
Similar: oop
noun oopses · oops
- A minor mistake or unforeseen difficulty. It's an oops, but one that's your fault, not your puppy's.
verb oopses · oopsing · oopsed
- To make a mistake; to blunder.
OOPS²
noun
- Abbreviation of object-oriented programming system
OOPs³
noun
- plural of OOP
verb
- third-person singular simple present indicative of OOP
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: sorry, agency, whoopsie, alas, bulls, jeepers, unrwa, whoops, yikes, fault, honest mistake, misprint, mistake, slip-up, screwup, slip
Translations
Every language
intj acknowledging a minor mistake
| Español | uy, vaya, ops, ups, huy, epa |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 아차 acha |
| 日本語 | おっと otto, しまった shimatta, あら ara, おや oya, あらら arara, はあ hā |
| 中文 | 哎呀 āiyā, āiyá, 啊哈 āhā |
| Português | opa, ops |
| Français | oups, houp! |
| Deutsch | ups, huch, hoppla |
| Italiano | ups, ops |
| Ελληνικά | ουπς oups |
| Română | ups |
| Русский | ой oj, упс ups, ох ox |
| العربية | آهٍ ʔāhin |
| עברית | אוּפְּס úps, אוֹישׁ óysh, אֲהָהּ aháh, וַוי wáy, וַואי wáy, אוֹי óy |
Talk about this word "oops." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/oops. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. oops. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/oops "oops." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/oops.Cite this
@misc{oops_2026,
title = {oops},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/oops},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
