Word.ws English Dictionary

wrong

UK/ˈɹɒŋ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northumbria/ɹaŋ/

wrong adjective: incorrect or untrue.

Adjective

wrong (comparative more wrong, superlative most wrong)

  1. Incorrect or untrue.
    • Some of your answers were correct, and some were wrong.
    • Among this princely heap, if any here / By false intelligence or wrong surmise / Hold me a foe […]c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  2. Asserting something incorrect or untrue.
    • You're wrong: he's not Superman at all.
  3. Immoral, not good, bad.
    • It is wrong to lie.
    • Shepard: Some part of you must still realize this is wrong. You can fight this!2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Council Chambers, Citadel
  4. Improper; unfit; unsuitable.
    • A bikini is the wrong thing to wear on a cold day.
  5. Not working; out of order.
    • Something is wrong with my cellphone.
    • Don't cry, honey. Tell me what's wrong.
  6. Designed to be worn or placed inward.
    • the wrong side of a garment or of a piece of cloth
    Synonyms:
    back
    Antonyms:
    right, front
  7. Twisted; wry.
    • a wrong nose

Adverb

wrong (comparative more wrong, superlative most wrong)

  1. (informal) In a way that isn't right; incorrectly, wrongly.
    • I spelled several names wrong in my address book.
    • You're doing it all wrong!

Noun

wrong (plural wrongs)

  1. Something that is immoral or not good.
    • Injustice is a heinous wrong.
  2. An instance of wronging someone (sometimes with possessive to indicate the wrongdoer).
    • Can she excuse my wrongs with Virtue's cloak? Shall I call her good when she proves unkind?1597, John Dowland, The First Booke of Songes or Ayres, Part V
  3. The incorrect or unjust position or opinion.
    • I blame not her: she could say little less; She had the wrong.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  4. The opposite of right; the concept of badness.
    • Thus much of this will make Black white, foul fair, wrong right, Base noble, old young, coward valiant.c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

Verb

wrong (third-person singular simple present wrongs, present participle wronging, simple past and past participle wronged)

  1. To treat unjustly; to injure or harm; to do wrong by.
    • The dealer wronged us by selling us this lemon of a car.
    • Thou dost then wrong me, as that slaughterer doth Which giveth many wounds when one will kill.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. To deprive of some right, or to withhold some act of justice.
    • ... And might by no suit gain our audience. When we are wrong'd and would unfold our griefs, We are denied access unto his person Even by those men that most have done us wrong.c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
  3. To slander; to impute evil to unjustly.
    • O masters! if I were dispos'd to stir Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, Who (you all know) are honorable men. I will not do them wrong; I rather choose To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you, Than I will wrong such honorable men.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

wrong meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

wrong in Hindi

incorrect
अशुद्ध aśuddh, त्रुटिपूर्ण truṭipūrṇ, ग़लत ġalat
immoral
अनैतिक anaitik
improper
अनुचित anucit
something immoral
अनुचित anucit, अनैतिक anaitik

wrong in Tamil

தவறு, தவறான

wrong in Marathi

incorrect
चूक cūk, चुकीचा cukīcā, चुकीची cukīcī, चुकीचे cukīce

wrong in Urdu

incorrect
غلط ġalat
More languagesFewer languages
wrong in Bengali
ভুল bhul, ভ্রান্ত bhranto
wrong in Telugu
తప్పు tappu, తప్పుడు tappuḍu, సరికాని sarikāni
wrong in Malayalam
തെറ്റ് teṟṟŭ
wrong in Kannada
ಅನೈತಿಕ ನಡತೆ, ಅಧರ್ಮ, ಅಪರಾಧ, ನಿಂದಾರ್ಹವಾದದ್ದು
wrong in Punjabi
غلط ġalat̤, ਗ਼ਲਤ ġalat, پٹھا puṭṭhā
wrong in Gujarati
ખોટું khoṭũ, જૂઠું jūṭhũ
wrong in Odia
ଭୁଲ, ଭୁଲ୍
wrong in Sanskrit
त्रुटिपूर्ण truṭipūrṇa
wrong in Assamese
ভুল bhul
wrong in Nepali
गलत
wrong in Pashto
غلط ǧalat, ناسم nâsëm
wrong in Arabic
خَاطِئ ḵāṭiʔ, خَطَأ ḵaṭaʔ, مُخْطِئ muḵṭiʔ, ظَلَمَ ẓalama
wrong in Malay
salah
wrong in Indonesian
salah, keliru
wrong in Persian
غلط ġalat
wrong in Thai
ผิด pìt
wrong in Vietnamese
sai, không đúng, xấu, không tốt
wrong in Myanmar
မှား hma:

Examples of wrong in a sentence

  • You are not wrong, who deem / That my days have been a dream; / Yet if hope has flown away / In a night, or in a day, / In a vision, or in none, / Is it therefore the less gone?1849 March 31, Edgar Allan Poe, “A Dream Within a Dream”, in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe: […], volumes II (Poems and...
  • In this respect then, Gabriel's repetitive lyric of everyone playing: “games without frontiers and war without tears” was on the one hand quite funnily wrong.2015 December 26, Victor Robert Farrell, Night-Whispers Vol 01-Q1-'Stirring Passions', Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 143:
  • Throughout this time, Mystic Wolmar has been trying his luck and mostly getting it wrong - especially in 2006, when he got virtually everything wrong, including the departure of Tony Blair.2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 61:
  • `Then, just as I was, I walked out of the house and went to the recruiting-office, stating my age wrong.'1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 131:

All 40 example sentences with wrong

Synonyms of wrong

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of wrong

Forms of wrong

Adjective
comparativemore wrong
superlativemost wrong
Adverb
comparativemore wrong
superlativemost wrong
Noun
pluralwrongs
Verb
third-person singular presentwrongs
present participlewronging
past participlewronged
pastwronged

Past tense of wrong: wronged

Plural of wrong: wrongs

Origin of wrong

From Middle English wrong, from Old English wrang (“wrong, twisted, uneven”), from Old Norse rangr, vrangr (“crooked, wrong”), from Proto-Germanic *wrangaz (“crooked, twisted, turned awry”), from Proto-Indo-European *werḱ-, *wrengʰ- (“to twist, weave, tie together”), from *wer- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Scots wrang (“wrong”), Danish vrang (“wrong, crooked”), Swedish vrång (“perverse, distorted”), Icelandic rangur (“wrong”), Norwegian Nynorsk rang (“wrong”), Dutch wrang (“bitter, sour”) and the first element in the mythic Old Frisian city of Rungholt (“crooked wood”). More at wring.

Words formed from wrong

Phrases with wrong

143 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with wrong

26 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about wrong

What does wrong mean?
Wrong means incorrect or untrue.
What is wrong in Hindi?
Wrong in Hindi is अशुद्ध (aśuddh), त्रुटिपूर्ण (truṭipūrṇ), ग़लत (ġalat). See Wrong meaning in Hindi.
How do you use wrong in a sentence?
You are not wrong, who deem / That my days have been a dream; / Yet if hope has flown away / In a night, or in a day, / In a vision, or in none, / Is it therefore the less gone?
What part of speech is wrong?
Wrong can be an adjective, an adverb, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce wrong?
Wrong is pronounced /ˈɹɒŋ/ (UK).

Words near wrong in the dictionary

  1. wroke
  2. wroken
  3. WROL
  4. Wrona
  5. Wronas
  6. wrong
  7. wrong 'un
  8. wrong 'uns
  9. wrong crowd
  10. wrong crowds
  11. wrong end of the stick

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wrong (page history and authors); wrong (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ভুল (Bengali) (page history and authors); തെറ്റ് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); wrong (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); غلط (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ખોટું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); wrong (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ভুল (Assamese) (page history and authors); wrong (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); غلط (Pashto) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-wrong.ogg, En-ca-wrong.ogg.

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