Word.ws English Dictionary

on the wrong foot

on the wrong foot prepositional phrase: in a state of misunderstanding or inadvertent poor relationship with someone.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (especially) In a state of misunderstanding or inadvertent poor relationship with someone.
    • My relationship with my neighbours started off on the wrong foot, but we're very close now.
  2. In a disadvantaged situation, or following a mistaken course of action.
    • In this legal battle we were on the wrong foot from the start.

Antonyms of on the wrong foot

Questions about on the wrong foot

What does on the wrong foot mean?
On the wrong foot means in a state of misunderstanding or inadvertent poor relationship with someone.
What part of speech is on the wrong foot?
On the wrong foot is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the wrong foot in the dictionary

  1. on the way out
  2. on the whole
  3. on the wind
  4. on the wing
  5. on the wings of the wind
  6. on the wrong foot
  7. on the wrong side of history
  8. on the wrong side of the blanket
  9. on the wrong track
  10. on thin ice
  11. on this score

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the wrong foot (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “on the wrong foot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_wrong_foot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.