Wiktionary

wrong

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English wrong, from Old English wrang (“wrong, twisted, uneven”), from Old Norse rangr, *vrangr (“crooked, wrong”), from Proto-Germanic *wrangaz (“crooked, twisted, turned awry”), from Proto-Indo-European *werḱ-, *wrengʰ- (“to twist, weave, tie together”), from *wer- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Scots wrang (“wrong”), Danish vrang (“wrong, crooked”), Swedish vrång (“perverse, distorted”), Icelandic rangur (“wrong”), Norwegian Nynorsk rang (“wrong”), Dutch wrang (“bitter, sour”) and the first element in the mythic Old Frisian city of Rungholt (“crooked wood”). More at wring.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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wrong (comparative more wrong, superlative most wrong)

  1. Incorrect or untrue.
    Some of your answers were correct, and some were wrong.
    • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
      Among this princely heap, if any here / By false intelligence or wrong surmise / Hold me a foe […]
    • 2015 December 26, Victor Robert Farrell, Night-Whispers Vol 01-Q1-'Stirring Passions'‎[1], Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 143:
      In this respect then, Gabriel's repetitive lyric of everyone playing: “games without frontiers and war without tears” was on the one hand quite funnily wrong. 'It's a Knockout' produced tears of laughter. […]
    • 2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 61:
      Throughout this time, Mystic Wolmar has been trying his luck and mostly getting it wrong - especially in 2006, when he got virtually everything wrong, including the departure of Tony Blair.
  2. Asserting something incorrect or untrue.
    You're wrong: he's not Superman at all.
  3. Immoral, not good, bad.
    It is wrong to lie.
  4. Improper; unfit; unsuitable.
    A bikini is the wrong thing to wear on a cold day.
  5. Not working; out of order.
    Something is wrong with my cellphone.
    Don't cry, honey. Tell me what's wrong.
  6. Designed to be worn or placed inward
    the wrong side of a garment or of a piece of cloth
  7. Twisted; wry.
    a wrong nose

Usage notes

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  • The single-word comparative and superlative forms wronger and wrongest are no longer in common use, except humorously; rather, the locutions “more wrong” and “most wrong” are preferred.
  • When wrong is used attributively, before a noun, the noun is usually treated as definite, using the article the; hence, for example, one says, “I dialed the wrong number”, “he gave the wrong answer”, and “she took the wrong approach”, even though there are many possible wrong numbers, answers, and approaches, of which only one was dialed, given, or taken.

Quotations

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  • 2007 January 3, Ken Miller, “The Collapse of Intelligent Design: Will the next Monkey Trial be in Ohio?”, Case Western University, Strosacker Auditorium
    […] that statement is wrong. Now that's not an incidental statement, that is the heart and soul of the Intelligent Design argument, and in this case it turns out to be wrong. Now it's even wronger than that [laughter] because it turns out that not only do these proteins make up the Type-III Secretory Apparatus but almost every protein in the bacerial flagellum is strongly homologous to proteins that have other functions elsewhere in the cell.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Terms derived from wrong

Collocations

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nouns
  • wrong way
  • wrong side
  • wrong thing
  • wrong place
  • wrong direction
  • wrong time
  • wrong person
  • wrong answer
  • wrong idea
  • wrong kind
adverbs
  • very wrong
  • terribly wrong
  • horribly wrong
  • completely wrong
  • entirely wrong
  • seriously wrong
  • morally wrong
  • quite wrong
  • clearly wrong

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb

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wrong (comparative more wrong, superlative most wrong)

  1. (informal) In a way that isn't right; incorrectly, wrongly.
    I spelled several names wrong in my address book.
    You're doing it all wrong!
    • 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 131:
      `Then, just as I was, I walked out of the house and went to the recruiting-office, stating my age wrong.'

Translations

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Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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wrong (plural wrongs)

  1. Something that is immoral or not good.
    Injustice is a heinous wrong.
  2. An instance of wronging someone (sometimes with possessive to indicate the wrongdoer).
    • 1597, John Dowland, The First Booke of Songes or Ayres, Part V:
      Can she excuse my wrongs with Virtue's cloak? Shall I call her good when she proves unkind?
  3. The incorrect or unjust position or opinion.
  4. The opposite of right; the concept of badness.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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wrong (third-person singular simple present wrongs, present participle wronging, simple past and past participle wronged)

  1. To treat unjustly; to injure or harm; to do wrong by.
    The dealer wronged us by selling us this lemon of a car.
  2. To deprive of some right, or to withhold some act of justice.
    • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], line 121:
      ... And might by no suit gain our audience. When we are wrong'd and would unfold our griefs, We are denied access unto his person Even by those men that most have done us wrong.
  3. To slander; to impute evil to unjustly.
    • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], line 121:
      O masters! if I were dispos'd to stir Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, Who (you all know) are honorable men. I will not do them wrong; I rather choose To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you, Than I will wrong such honorable men.

Derived terms

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Terms derived from the adjective, adverb, noun, or verb wrong

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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wrong m (plural wrongen, diminutive wrongetje n)

  1. (heraldry) wreath, a ring made of two strips of cloth intertwined used on top of helmets to soften any blow

Verb

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wrong

  1. singular past indicative of wringen

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Semantic loan from Old Norse rangr, while the form is from Old English wrang (“rough, uneven”); ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrangaz.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /wrɔnɡ/, [wrɔŋɡ]
  • (later ME) IPA(key): /rɔnɡ/, [rɔŋɡ]

Noun

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wrong (plural wronges)

  1. A wrong, injustice
  2. A (moral) wrong, evil, wrongdoing, sin
  3. injury, harm
  4. mistake, misstep

Descendants

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  • English: wrong
  • Geordie English: wrang
  • Scots: wrang

References

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Adjective

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wrong

  1. wicked, evil, (morally) wrong
  2. unjust, unfair, illegitimate
  3. unlawful, illegal
  4. inappropriate
  5. inaccurate, mistaken
  6. curved, crooked, bent
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Descendants

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References

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