Word.ws English Dictionary

on the wrong side of history

on the wrong side of history prepositional phrase: having policies or practices that are perceived as not progressive or enlightened; behaving in a manner that reflects out-of-date or disapproved opinions.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (derogatory, idiomatic, usually) Having policies or practices that are perceived as not progressive or enlightened; behaving in a manner that reflects out-of-date or disapproved opinions.
    • Washington reporters . . . were seen by the president's people as on the wrong side of history—both technologically and politically.1993 June 27, “The 'Jurassic Park' Press”, in Newsweek, retrieved 21 Apr 2015
    • As gays have moved into the mainstream, Republicans have landed on the wrong side of history.2007 June 14, Michael Kinsley, “The Quiet Gay Revolution”, in Time, retrieved 21 Apr 2015

Antonyms of on the wrong side of history

Questions about on the wrong side of history

What does on the wrong side of history mean?
On the wrong side of history means having policies or practices that are perceived as not progressive or enlightened; behaving in a manner that reflects out-of-date or disapproved opinions.
What part of speech is on the wrong side of history?
On the wrong side of history is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the wrong side of history in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the wrong side of history (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on the wrong side of history.ogg.

Cite this entry: “on the wrong side of history.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_wrong_side_of_history. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.