wrongous

English

Alternative forms

• wrongeous

Etymology

From Middle English wrongous, for earlier wrongwis, wrangwis, from Old English wrangwīs (“wrongous, rough, uneven”), equivalent to wrong +‎ -ous (see also wrongwise). Cognate with Swedish vrångvis (“wrong, iniquitous”). See wrong, and compare righteous.

Adjective

wrongous (comparative more wrongous, superlative most wrongous)

1. (UK dialectal, Scotland, especially law) Wrongful; not right; unjust; illegal.
   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter III, in Rob Roy. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 61:

     It’s my opinion that the creature Dougal will have a good action of wrongous imprisonment and damages again him, under the Act seventeen hundred and one, and I’ll see the creature righted.

   • 1879, James Paterson, Reports of Scotch Appeals in the House of Lords:

     If the prisoner is detained an unreasonable time, he would have an action for wrongous imprisonment.

Derived terms

• wrongously
• wrongousness

Related terms

• wrongwise

References

• “wrongous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.