---
set: 4
code: 422
title: Unprocessable Entity
references:
    "Rails HTTP Status Symbol": ":unprocessable_entity"
---

The 422 Unprocessable Entity status code means the server understands the
content type of the request entity (hence a [415 (Unsupported Media Type)](/415)
status code is inappropriate), and the syntax of the request entity is correct
(thus a [400 (Bad Request)](/400) status code is inappropriate) but was unable
to process the contained instructions.

For example, this error condition may occur if an XML request body contains
well-formed (i.e., syntactically correct), but semantically erroneous, XML
instructions.

Source: [RFC4918 Section 11.2][1]

[1]: <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4918#section-11.2>