go wrong
Idioms-
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]
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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]
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Fail, turn out badly, as in Everything about this party has gone wrong . [Late 1500s]
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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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A small Los Angeles Fire Department crew is expected to remain on scene to monitor the area in case things go wrong.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2026
You can never go wrong with a classic chicken pot pie.
From Salon • Jun. 29, 2026
I normally think about what could go wrong, and I’ve cried out that we’re heading toward a dystopia more times than Chicken Little shrieked about the sky falling.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 23, 2026
Despite the heightened security, some students said they were still worried things could go wrong again.
From BBC • Jun. 21, 2026
Less interested in healing minds than in observing the ways they could go wrong, Porter saw it as his job to keep mentally ill people out of the Army.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
