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.
And then there’s the constant anticipation that something else will go wrong.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026
She earlier described "a lack of data of when things go wrong – it's hard to know who to contact, who to complain to, how to resolve issues and actually even who has responsibility".
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
Without enough B12, things can go wrong, sometimes seriously, especially if deficiency is not recognized and treated.
From Science Daily • May 27, 2026
For SpaceX, the technology may hold—and a lot could still go wrong.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026
She mapped out all the ways this could go wrong.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
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.
