go wrong

1. Go astray, make a mistake. For example, We made a left turn and somehow went wrong from then on , or You won't go wrong if you follow the directions in the dress pattern . [c. 1300]

2. Take to evil ways, become a criminal, as in As soon as he turned thirteen, Billy fell in with a gang and began to go wrong . [c. 1500]

3. Fail, turn out badly, as in Everything about this party has gone wrong . [Late 1500s]

4. Fail to work properly, as in The car starts fine, but as soon as you put it in gear, the transmission goes wrong . [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

“They definitely don’t talk to a supervisor if something is going wrong,” Popple says, since they are worried about being compared with better-performing colleagues.

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Now, an Ashes appearance for the Warwickshire man would mean something has gone wrong: results, form or an injury.

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It’s a change that will probably open the door to a larger number of individual traders taking advantage of off hours, but also has the potential to raise major operational problems if something goes wrong.

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Galaxy coach Greg Vanney talks about what went wrong and what went right for the Galaxy after a season of struggle following their MLS Cup title.

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Landlords have said the reforms would increase the screening of prospective tenants and have spoken of nervousness around what happens when tenancies go wrong.

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Related Words

• err 
• misconstrue 
• misinterpret 
• misjudge 
• misread 
• misunderstand 
• overestimate 
• overrate 
• overvalue 
• underestimate 
• undervalue