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Glite Dictionary
to make a boo-boo

to make a boo-boo

1 8.4
To do something wrong by accident in a small, silly way
  • idiom
  • Baby Talk
translation icon : cometer un error
  • I made a boo-boo when I accidentally sent the email to the wrong person.

OK, so I had made a Boo Boo when I wrote that down.

Examples

Synonyms

to trip up
vsto make a boo-boo
27 4.9

Make a mistake or cause someone else to make one

focuses on a simple silly mistake rather than causing others to err
to slip up
vsto make a boo-boo
  • Informal
27 4.1

To make a small careless mistake

is more playful and childlike than this neutral accidental error
to goof
vsto make a boo-boo
  • Informal
17 5.6

To make a silly or careless mistake

is more childish and lighter in tone than this general error
to fluff
vsto make a boo-boo
  • Informal
2 5.4

To make a mistake especially by forgetting words on stage

is milder and usually denotes a smaller, sillier error
to make a boob
vsto make a boo-boo
  • Archaic
1 8.2

To do something foolish or embarrassing by mistake

is milder and more playful than this stronger foolish blunder
to booboo
vsto make a boo-boo
  • Informal
8.3

To make a small mistake in a playful or informal way

is the casual childish way to mean a minor silly error
to make an oopsy
vsto make a boo-boo
  • Informal
8.2

To do something small and silly by accident

is slightly less playful and a bit more general in tone
to pull a fuckbonnet
vsto make a boo-boo
  • Offensive
9.9

To make a silly mistake that makes people laugh at you

is gentler and used for minor silly errors without harsh ridicule

How Serious

to mistake
37 1.0
to make a boo-boo
  • Baby Talk
1 8.4
to slip up
  • Informal
27 4.1

Surface Forms

make a boo-boo infinitive
made a boo-boo past
made a boo-boo past participle
making a boo-boo present participle
makes a boo-boo third person singular

Morphology

make + a + boo-boo

The noun 'boo-boo' denotes a small or light mistake, and 'make' (cause/do) plus the indefinite article composes straightforwardly to mean 'cause/commit a small mistake.' Although colloquial and childlike in tone, the meaning is directly derivable from the parts and follows a standard verb + noun pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand it.

Etymology

Make a boo-boo comes from child language where boo-boo is the word a child uses for a small hurt, like a scraped knee. Saying someone made a boo-boo compares a mistake to a tiny hurt, so it now means 'to make a small or silly mistake'.