an honest mistake

an honest mistake

A mistake made unintentionally or unknowingly and without the intention of causing harm; a mistake that anyone might have made in similar circumstances. It was an honest mistake! How was I to know that you wouldn't want me to send that letter with the rest of the mail?
See also: honest, mistake
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • mistake
  • make it (to something or some place)
  • make it some place
  • make it to
  • made for
  • be made for (someone or something)
  • be made that way
  • have (something) made
  • have it made
  • have made
References in periodicals archive
"But it was an honest mistake. Has nobody out there ever made a mistake?
The owners have since apologized, JTA reports, insisting, rather unconvincingly, that it was an honest mistake:
Without batting an eye, Sheldon replied, "An honest mistake. These things happen.
It seems, from your description, an honest mistake and no foul play is at hand.
The force said the incident was "an honest mistake".
She said: "This was an error by a junior member of staff and was an honest mistake.
They made an honest mistake, as we all do occasionally in our professional lives.
I don't think that anybody tried to do the wrong thing - it was an honest mistake."
Anybody who knows Paddy knows he has just made an honest mistake."
An honest mistake, but nonetheless one I thought I would point out, since I am an Arctic Cat owner.
Under those laws, we can prosecute those who have knowingly deprived workers of income - but, rightly, not those who may have made an honest mistake.
"This was an honest mistake and I will give him his money back," he said in his statement.
A Mail Source spokeswoman said the employee who sold the computer had made an honest mistake.
But is it fair that someone who makes an honest mistake is severely punished while the player who conned him escaped scot-free?
It is possible that this was an honest mistake by a young man doing what he is supposed to be doing ...