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

Here’s a look at what went right, what went wrong and what comes next for the Rams:

From Los Angeles Times

He quickly realised that he had a knack for spotting where players were going wrong, both technically and physically.

From BBC

Here we take a look at some large things that went wrong and can be made better.

From The Wall Street Journal

And then my 2-year-old daughter is just resilient and strong, like something goes wrong in her day.

From Los Angeles Times

He still didn’t know what had gone wrong.

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023