Meaning of wrong in English

wrong

adjective

/rɒŋ/ us

/rɑːŋ/

wrong adjective (NOT CORRECT)

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not correct:

Three of your answers were wrong.

That clock is wrong - it's 12.30, not 12.15.

plainly wrong Some of his facts are questionable, others are plainly (= completely) wrong.

Synonyms

erroneous formal
fallacious formal
false (NOT CORRECT)
incorrect
untrue

Opposite

right (CORRECT)

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

wrong

wrongThat's the wrong answer. Read the question again.
incorrectThe information on the website is incorrect.
erroneousNo one could explain how the erroneous information had got into the report.
inaccurateTheir estimation of the cost was wildly (= extremely) inaccurate.

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If someone is wrong, they are not correct in their judgment or statement about something:

wrong about You were wrong about the time - the bank closed at 3.30.

wrong in He's wrong in thinking that we will support the project financially.

prove someone wrong

to show by your actions that someone's judgment of you was not correct:

I thought she couldn't do it, but she proved me wrong.

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I got eight correct answers and two wrong ones in last week's exam.
On the last question, she guessed wrong.
He doesn't have the humility to admit when he's wrong.
I'd marked her down as a Labour Party supporter, but I was completely wrong.
I'm hopeless at physics, and it's the same with chemistry - I get it all wrong.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Wrong

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wrong adjective (NOT SUITABLE)

not suitable or correct, or not as it should be:

She's the wrong person for the job.

We must have taken a wrong turning.

wrong number I'm sorry, you've got the wrong number (= this is not the phone number you wanted).

Opposite

right (SUITABLE)

Something that is wrong is not considered to be socially acceptable or suitable:

She got in with the wrong crowd (= a group of people who behaved badly) at university.

If you ask someone what is wrong, you want to know what is worrying or upsetting them:

You've been quiet all evening. Is there anything wrong?

What's wrong with you today?

the wrong way around

(mainly UK also the wrong way round)

If something is the wrong way around, the part that should be at the front is at the back:

You've got your skirt on the wrong way around.

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There are fears that the weapons might fall into the wrong hands.
I realized I was looking at it from the wrong angle.
We realized we had taken the wrong road and had to double back.
I got into drugs because I was hanging around with the wrong people.
He put the wheel on the wrong way around.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Unsuitable and unacceptable

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Difficult situations and unpleasant experiences

wrong adjective (NOT MORAL)

not considered morally acceptable by most people:

Children should be taught that violence is wrong.

it is wrong of It was wrong of her to lie to you.

wrong with What's wrong with having a little fun?

Opposite

right

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Do you think it's wrong to use aborted foetuses for medical research?
"Was it wrong of me to go to the police?" "Oh no, I'm sure you did right."
It's wrong to treat animals as if they had no feelings.
You didn't do anything wrong, - you should have a clear conscience .
He argued that it was wrong to invest in the arms trade.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Morally wrong and evil

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wrong adjective (NOT WORKING)

B1 [ after verb ]

not working correctly:

wrong with Something's wrong with the television - the picture's fuzzy.

find out what is wrong The doctors are still trying to find out what's wrong.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Machines - not functioning

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Idioms

catch someone on the wrong foot
get the wrong end of the stick
get/fall into the wrong hands
go down the wrong way
in the wrong place at the wrong time
send/give out (all) the wrong signals

wrong

adverb

/rɒŋ/ us

/rɑːŋ/

A2 informal

in a way that is not correct:

You've spelled my name wrong.

See also

wrongly

get something wrong B1 informal

to make a mistake in the way you answer or understand something:

I spent hours doing that problem and I still got the answer wrong.

go wrong

If a situation or event goes wrong, it becomes unpleasant and is not a success:

Our marriage began to go wrong after we had our first child.

to make a mistake:

These shelves are very easy to put together - you can't go wrong.

B1 UK

If a machine goes wrong, it stops working correctly:

Our TV keeps going wrong.

More examplesFewer examples

I've tied the knots all wrong.
I got the time wrong.
I wrote the number down wrong.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Wrong

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Idiom

don't get me wrong

wrong

noun

/rɒŋ/ us

/rɑːŋ/

[ U ]

what is considered to be morally unacceptable:

right and wrong He has no sense of right and wrong.

know right from wrong I was brought up to tell the truth and know right from wrong.

can do no wrong As far as her parents are concerned, she can do no wrong (= she is perfect in every way).

[ C ] formal

an unfair action:

do a wrong He has done us a great wrong.

right a wrong She was trying to right (= do something to make better) the wrongs of the past.

in the wrong

If someone is in the wrong, they have made a mistake or done something that is bad or illegal:

The driver was unquestionably in the wrong.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Morally wrong and evil

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Bad and wrong behaviour

Idiom

two wrongs don't make a right

wrong

verb [ T ]

formal

/rɒŋ/ us

/rɑːŋ/

to treat someone in an unfair or unacceptable way:

be deeply wronged She felt deeply wronged by his accusations.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Treating people or animals badly

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(Definition of wrong from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

wrong | American Dictionary

wrong

adjective

/rɔŋ/

wrong adjective (NOT CORRECT)

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not correct or not accurate:

Three of your answers were wrong.

That clock is wrong – it’s 12:30, not 12:15.

I dialed the wrong number.

wrong adjective (NOT SUITABLE)

not suitable or desirable, or not as it should be:

It was the wrong time to ask for a raise.

She was just the wrong person for the job.

wrong adjective (IMMORAL)

[ not gradable ]

not morally acceptable:

He believes that censorship is wrong.

wrong adjective (NOT WORKING)

[ not gradable ]

not working correctly:

Something’s wrong with the dishwasher – it’s leaking again.

wrong

adverb [ not gradable ] us

/rɔŋ/

It doesn’t work – what am I doing wrong?

Idiom

in the wrong place at the wrong time

wrong

verb [ T ]

/rɔŋ/

wrong verb [T] (TREAT UNFAIRLY)

to treat someone in an unfair or unacceptable way:

He felt he had been wronged, but everyone else blamed him for what happened.

To wrong someone is also to judge someone unfairly and express uncertainty about that person’s character:

That reporter wronged her, saying she was an unfit mother.

wrong

noun

/rɔŋ/

wrong noun (IMMORAL ACT)

[ C/U ]

behavior or an act that is morally unacceptable; evil or an evil act:

[ U ] She has a keen sense of right and wrong.

[ C ] It’s impossible to exaggerate the wrongs caused by slavery.

wrong noun (ACT THAT IS NOT CORRECT)

behavior or an act that is not correct:

If there's been a wrong, physicians (= doctors) want it made right.

Idiom

in the wrong

(Definition of wrong from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of wrong

wrong

However, it may be wrong to apply the conclusion twice, even if a pair is obtained from two different paths.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Or to be told the usage one has just produced is wrong?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, even if widespread neolithic societies did share a common set of problems it would be wrong to assume a common symbolic discourse.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

But investment in human rights is not only a moral and quasi-legal salvation from things that are still going depressingly wrong.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Based on a potential error message, they might modify a word or a sentence that is not in fact wrong and hence make things worse.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It could be argued that we trained the wrong set of words.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Perhaps they simply got the wrong biological antagonist.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It would obviously be wrong to castigate those who have prepared this second edition for not doing various things that would have been very desirable.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They will not be denounced as ' 'wrong' ' or ridiculed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Population extinctions resulting in endemism (sole occurrence in a locality or nation) in the wrong country can be the forerunner of species extinctions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The unwary will be lulled into a false sense of security and happily accept a possibly wrong result.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, it is wrong to assert that the informal sector has taken care of a large number of older people since early times.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Some pupils spotted wrong notes that had not been edited out.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the light of these quotations, the identification between literalism and fundamentalism seems doubtful, and probably wrong.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There are, moreover, times when the very idea of the primacy of habit over deliberation is wrong.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

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