wrong

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Not correct; mistaken or untrue.

   Some of your answers were right, and some were wrong.

2. 2
   adj

   Not morally right; unfair or unjust.

   It is wrong to take advantage of people who trust you.

3. 3
   adj

   Not the one you want or need; not suitable.

   The pharmacist gave me the wrong medicine.

4. 4
   noun

   An unjust or unfair act.

   We believe your client is in the wrong here.

5. 5
   verb

   To treat someone unfairly or unjustly.

   He felt that his old friend had wronged him.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Wrong is an Old English word from Old Norse rangr, meaning “awry” or “unjust.” It first meant “crooked, curved, or twisted” and is related to wring.

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.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary