wrong number
Americannoun
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wrong numbers
plural
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(in telephoning)
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a call made to a number other than the one intended.
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the number or person reached through such a call.
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Slang.
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the wrong person for a particular task, role, or situation.
Me cook a gourmet dinner?—You've got the wrong number!
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an inadequate, disagreeable, or repulsive person.
She's OK, but her brother's a wrong number.
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noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
For some of them, it was just troubleshooting; did I enter the wrong number?
From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2026
Suddenly, machines on the East Coast that tried to process trillions of requests were getting the internet’s equivalent of a wrong number.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
“I may have put down the wrong number in that particular instance on accident,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2025
It’s estimated that 70 percent of miscarriages happen when an embryo has the wrong number of chromosomes.
From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2024
The mechanical ring drilled its way down the hall, and I held my breath, hoping it wasn’t a wrong number.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
