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wrongly

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Etymology

From Middle English wrongly, wrongliche, equivalent to wrong + -ly.

Pronunciation

Adverb

wrongly (comparative more wrongly, superlative most wrongly)

  1. In violation of a moral or other standard, code, or convention; in an unfair, unjust, dishonest, or immoral manner; wrongly convicted is synonymous with wrongful conviction and miscarriage of justice.
    Synonyms: unfairly, unjustly, dishonestly, immorally, wrongfully; see also Thesaurus:unvirtuously
  2. Incorrectly, mistakenly; by error.
    Synonyms: incorrectly, mistakenly, erroneously
    Antonyms: correctly, rightly
    I wrongly assumed that it would be an easy job.
    • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 41:
      "The minute I put my nose in that door she was at me for a drop of gin, but having no instructions to supply it, and being strictly teetotal myself, I have not done so, whether rightly or wrongly I leave you to judge, doctor."
    • 2023 December 20, Maria Cramer, “He Was Wrongly Convicted of Killing Her Father. She Set Out to Free Him.”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 20 December 2023:
      In March 2021, Mr. Livingston finally went up for parole after one of the lawyers from Appellate Advocates, De Nice Powell, argued he had been wrongly sentenced in the razor-blade contraband case and got the sentence reduced.

Usage notes

In American English, this word usually has a moral connotation, although it is not wrong to use "wrongly" as the opposite of "correctly".

Derived terms

Translations

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