rightwise
UK/ˈɹaɪtwaɪz/US/ˈɹaɪtˌwaɪz/
rightwise is the obsolete spelling of righteous.
rightwise is the archaic spelling of righteous.
Adjective
rightwise
- Rightward (to or from the right side); on the right side.
- […] that, abutting against the end of H, or nearly so, it will lock said bar as against a return or rightwise motion, and then said bar will be locked as against a reverse motion, and, being locked, its flop D cannot be rotated back, […]1866, Specifications and drawings of patents relating to electricity issued by the United States from July 1, 1884, to July 1, 1885, volume 39, published by the United States Patent Office
- The leftwise action aims at what drifts out of the nunka domain of the nefarious. Similarly for mortuary arrangements, what is leftwise is more momentous than what is rightwise.2006, Arne Røkkum, Nature, ritual, and society in Japan's Ryukyu Islands, page 151
- Clockwise, moving clockwise.
- In Tibet the compass points are described in a rightwise circle; one speaks there of east-south and west-north instead of south-east and north-west.1966, P. H. Pott, Yoga and yantra: their interrelation and their significance for Indian archeology, page 66
- Then he stepped before me, and I bade him walk three times in a rightwise circle around me. "This is embarrassing," he growled through clenched teeth as he passed the first time.2006, Steve Lawhead, The Silver Hand, page 20
Meaning of righteous
Adjective
righteous (comparative more righteous, superlative most righteous)
- Free from sin or guilt.
- The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bolde as a lyon.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 28:1
- Synonyms:
- guiltless, sinless, blameless, clean, clean-handed, clean as a hound's tooth, clean as a whistle, clear, dovelike, innocent
- Moral and virtuous, perhaps to the point of sanctimony.
- Human beings should take a righteous path, and so should art. We should promote kindness and beauty through art.
- Justified morally.
- righteous indignation
- Awesome; great.
- The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.1986, John Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Motion Picture), spoken by Grace Wheelberg (Edie McClurg)
- Synonyms:
- dope, lit, wicked, amazing, astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, sensational, awesomesauce
- Major; large; significant.
- He found Richard in one piece near a large circular container, thankfully, staring at a righteous mess of blood and gore.2021, G. S. Jennsen, Amaranthe V: Riven
- Synonyms:
- considerable
Adverb (1)
rightwise (not comparable)
- Rightly (correctly or justly); rightfully.
- And, after that fourth trial, sundry of the kings and many of the lesser barons and knights and all of the commons cried out that these were trials enough, and that Arthur had assuredly approved himself to be rightwise King […]1915, Howard Pyle, The story of King Arthur and his knights, page 36
- […] made indubitably clear that Arthur was rightwise king of the realm […]1969, Topic, numbers 17-18, page 37
Adverb (2)
rightwise (not comparable)
- By a rightward path; rightwards, rightwardly; clockwise (in a clockwise manner).
- and doing so they say that they do it themselves rightwise and the Hellenes leftwise.1890, G. C. Macaulay, The History of Herodotus, translated into English
- Similarly, his "doubling procedure" consists in the same random starting interval […] whose length is doubled (leftwise or rightwise at random) recursively till both ends are outside the slice.2004, Christian P. Robert, George Casella, Monte Carlo statistical methods, page 336
Forms of rightwise
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more rightwise |
| superlative | most rightwise |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | rightwises |
| present participle | rightwising |
| past participle | rightwised |
| past | rightwised |
Origin of rightwise
From Middle English rightwise, rightwis, from Old English rihtwīs (“righteous, just; right, justifiable”), corresponding to right + -wise. The second element was later confused with or assimilated to -ous, leading to the modern spelling righteous.
Presumably from Old English rihtwīs, reinforced by reanalysis as right + wise.
From right + -wise.
Questions about rightwise
- What does rightwise mean?
- Rightwise means rightly (correctly or justly); rightfully.
- What is rightwise the obsolete spelling of?
- Rightwise is the obsolete spelling of righteous.
- What part of speech is rightwise?
- Rightwise can be an adverb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce rightwise?
- Rightwise is pronounced /ˈɹaɪtwaɪz/ (UK).
Words near rightwise in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rightwise (page history and authors); righteous (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:
Cite this entry: “rightwise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rightwise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.