(wrongs, wronging, wronged)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you say there is something wrong, you mean there is something unsatisfactory about the situation, person, or thing you are talking about.
Pain is the body's way of telling us that something is wrong...
Nobody seemed to notice anything wrong...
What's wrong with him?
? right
ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ with n
2.
If you choose the wrong thing, person, or method, you make a mistake and do not choose the one that you really want.
He went to the wrong house...
The wrong man had been punished...
Could you have given them the wrong drug by mistake?...
There is no right or wrong way to do these exercises.
? right
ADJ: usu ADJ n
•
Wrong is also an adverb.
You've done it wrong...
I must have dialed wrong.
? right
ADV: ADV after v
3.
If something such as a decision, choice, or action is the wrong one, it is not the best or most suitable one.
I really made the wrong decision there...
The wrong choice of club might limit your chances of success...
We got married when I was 30 for all the wrong reasons.
? right
ADJ: ADJ n
4.
If something is wrong, it is incorrect and not in accordance with the facts.
How do you know that this explanation is wrong?...
20 per cent of the calculations are wrong.
...a clock which showed the wrong time...
Lots of people got the questions wrong.
? right
ADJ
•
Wrong is also an adverb.
I must have added it up wrong, then...
It looks like it's spelled wrong...
I can see exactly where he went wrong.
ADV: ADV after v
• wrongly
A child was wrongly diagnosed as having a bone tumour...
Civilians assume, wrongly, that everything in the military runs smoothly.
ADV: ADV with v
5.
If something is wrong or goes wrong with a machine or piece of equipment, it stops working properly.
We think there's something wrong with the computer...
Something must have gone wrong with the satellite link.
ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ with n
6.
If you are wrong about something, what you say or think about it is not correct.
I was wrong about it being a casual meeting...
It would be wrong to assume that rich countries will always be able to insulate themselves with drugs against the ravages of new diseases...
I'm sure you've got it wrong. Kate isn't like that...
It's been very nice to prove them wrong.
? right
ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ about n, ADJ in -ing, it v-link ADJ to-inf, ADJ to-inf
7.
If you think that someone was wrong to do something, you think that they should not have done it because it was bad or immoral.
She was wrong to leave her child alone...
We don't consider we did anything wrong.
? right
ADJ: ADJ to-inf
•
Wrong is also a noun.
...a man who believes that he has done no wrong.
N-UNCOUNT
8.
Wrong is used to refer to activities or actions that are considered to be morally bad and unacceptable.
Is it wrong to try to save the life of someone you love?...
They thought slavery was morally wrong...
The only thing I consider wrong is when you hurt someone...
There is nothing wrong with journalists commenting on the attractiveness of artists.
ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft it v-link ADJ to-inf/that
•
Wrong is also a noun.
Johnson didn't seem to be able to tell the difference between right and wrong.
? right
N-UNCOUNT
9.
A wrong is an unfair or immoral action.
I intend to right that wrong...
The insurance company should not be held liable for the wrongs of one of its agents.
N-COUNT
10.
If someone wrongs you, they treat you in an unfair way.
You have wronged my mother...
She felt she'd been wronged...
Those who have wronged must be ready to say: 'We have hurt you by this injustice.'
VERB: V n, V n, V
11.
You use wrong to describe something which is not thought to be socially acceptable or desirable.
If you went to the wrong school, you won't get the job...
ADJ: ADJ n
12.
If a situation goes wrong, it stops progressing in the way that you expected or intended, and becomes much worse.
It all went horribly wrong...
PHRASE: V inflects
13.
If someone who is involved in an argument or dispute has behaved in a way which is morally or legally wrong, you can say that they are in the wrong.
He didn't press charges because he was in the wrong...
PHRASE: usu v-link PHR
14.
to
get off on the wrong foot: see
foot
to
get hold of the wrong end of the stick: see
stick
to
be barking up the wrong tree: see
tree