wrong
adjectiveadverbnounverbtop 1 000 in film dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈɹɒŋ//
- United States//ˈɹɔŋ//
- //ɹaŋ//
- //ˈɹɑŋ//
Incorrect or untrue.
adjective
- 1
Incorrect or untrue.
Some of your answers were correct, and some were wrong.
Among this princely heap, if any here / By false intelligence or wrong surmise / Hold me a foe […]
You are not wrong, who deem / That my days have been a dream; / Yet if hope has flown away / In a night, or in a day, / In a vision, or in none, / Is it therefore the less gone?
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. […]
- 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.
Shepard: Some part of you must still realize this is wrong. You can fight this!
- 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
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wrengʰ- /*wrengʷʰder.? Proto-Germanic *wringaną Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Germanic *-az Proto-Germanic *wrangaz Proto-West Germanic *wrang ▲ Old Norse rangrinflu. Old English wrang Old Norse rangrinflu. Middle English wrong English wrong 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.
adverb
- 1
informalIn a way that isn't right; incorrectly, wrongly.
I spelled several names wrong in my address book.
You're doing it all wrong!
`Then, just as I was, I walked out of the house and went to the recruiting-office, stating my age wrong.'
noun
- 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).
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.
I blame not her: she could say little less; She had the wrong.
- 4
The opposite of right; the concept of badness.
Thus much of this will make Black white, foul fair, wrong right, Base noble, old young, coward valiant.
verb
- 1
To treat unjustly; to injure or harm; to do wrong by.
The dealer wronged us by selling us this lemon of a car.
Thou dost then wrong me, as that slaughterer doth Which giveth many wounds when one will kill.
- 2
To deprive of some right, or to withhold some act of justice.
... 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.
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.
Forms
- plural
- wrongs
- comparative
- more wrong
- superlative
- most wrong
- past tense
- wronged
- past participle
- wronged
- present participle
- wronging
- third person singular
- wrongs