wrongful

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈrɔŋ.fəl/ UK /ˈrɒŋ.fəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
unjust, unfair, or contrary to law or morality

She sued the company for wrongful dismissal.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · unjust, unfair, or contrary... unjust unlawful illegal unfair illegitimate iniquitous

Opposites

lawful just rightful legitimate

Word family

Forms wrongfully

Derived forms wrongfullywrongfulness

Related forms wrongwrongdoerwrongdoing

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

wrongful arrest
the illegal or unjustified detention of a person

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From wrong + -ful. Wrong is from Old English wrang, from Old Norse rangr ('crooked, awry'), related to wring.

rangr Old Norse *wrangaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# wrongful

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈrɔŋ.fəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈrɒŋ.fəl/

## Meanings
1. unjust, unfair, or contrary to law or morality

## Examples
- She sued the company for wrongful dismissal.

## Synonyms
- unjust
- unlawful
- illegal
- unfair
- illegitimate
- iniquitous

## Antonyms
- lawful
- just
- rightful
- legitimate

## Derived Forms
- wrongfully
- wrongfulness

## Related Forms
- wrong
- wrongdoer
- wrongdoing

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: rangr
- Root: *wrangaz

## Etymology
From wrong + -ful. Wrong is from Old English wrang, from Old Norse rangr ('crooked, awry'), related to wring.

## AI Etymology
Wrongful comes from wrong + -ful. Wrong is from Old English wrang, from Old Norse rangr ('crooked, awry'), related to wring. In current use it is an adjective meaning "unjust, unfair, or contrary to law or morality". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The suffix -ful marks possession or fullness of the quality named by the base. The surface form is compositional: its joined elements remain visible in the modern word. The historical chain includes Old Norse rangr and Proto-Germanic *wrangaz. Related English forms include wrong, wrongdoer, and wrongdoing. Derived forms include wrongfully and wrongfulness. The word's history is thus visible in its construction: the components remain interpretable even after the whole expression has settled into a conventional English meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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