err on the side of

present singular third person errs on the side of · participle present erring on the side of · participle past erred on the side of · past erred on the side of

1. idiomatictransitiveTo behave in a manner which favours or which is biased toward.

   Let us err, then, if we err, on the side of liberty.

   1914, Arthur Quiller-Couch, “On Style”, in On the Art of Writing

   4 more examples

   Every man would prefer that the woman in whom he feels an interest should err on the side of bigotry rather than on that of what is called liberalism in points of religious belief.

   1849, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 15, in The Sea Lions

   My case is, as I have told you, almost complete; but we must not err on the side of over-confidence.

   1890 February, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration”, in The Sign of Four (Standard Library), London: Spencer Blackett […], →OCLC, page 89

   But perhaps you tend to err on the side of severity. Perhaps you make too little allowance for human weakness.

   1893, George Gissing, “Discord of Leaders”, in The Odd Women […], volume II, London: Lawrence & Bullen […], →OCLC, page 68

   She loved to read poetry and when she got a keepsake from Bertha Supple of that lovely confession album with the coralpink cover to write her thoughts in she laid it in the drawer of her toilettable which, though it did not err on the side of luxury, was scrupulously neat and clean.

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 13: Nausicaa]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 347

2. To choose which mistake (err) will be perpetuated when all available options would result in different mistakes.