Wring vs. Wrong

To squeeze or twist tightly so that liquid is forced out.

Example: ‘You must wring your wet jeans before hanging them out to dry.’;

To obtain by force.

Example: ‘The police said they would wring the truth out of that heinous criminal.’;

To hold tightly and press or twist.

Example: ‘Some of the patients waiting in the dentist's office were wringing their hands nervously.’; ‘He said he'd wring my neck if I told his girlfriend.’; ‘He wrung my hand enthusiastically when he found out we were related.’;

(intransitive) To writhe; to twist, as if in anguish.

To kill an animal, usually poultry, by breaking its neck by twisting.

To pain; to distress; to torment; to torture.

To distort; to pervert; to wrest.

To subject to extortion; to afflict, or oppress, in order to enforce compliance.

(nautical) To bend or strain out of its position.

Example: ‘to wring a mast’;

A powerful squeezing or twisting action.

Example: ‘I grasped his hand and gave it a grateful wring.’;

(archaic) A press; a device for pressing or compressing, especially for cider.

To twist and compress; to turn and strain with violence; to writhe; to squeeze hard; to pinch; as, to wring clothes in washing.

Example: ‘[His steed] so sweat that men might him wring.’; ‘The king began to find where his shoe did wring him.’; ‘The priest shall bring it [a dove] unto the altar, and wring off his head.’;

Hence, to pain; to distress; to torment; to torture.

Example: ‘Too much grieved and wrung by an uneasy and strait fortune.’; ‘Didst thou taste but half the griefsThat wring my soul, thou couldst not talk thus coldly.’;

To distort; to pervert; to wrest.

Example: ‘How dare men thus wring the Scriptures?’;

To extract or obtain by twisting and compressing; to squeeze or press (out); hence, to extort; to draw forth by violence, or against resistance or repugnance; - usually with out or form.

Example: ‘Your overkindness doth wring tears from me.’; ‘He rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece.’;

To subject to extortion; to afflict, or oppress, in order to enforce compliance.

Example: ‘To wring the widow from her 'customed right.’; ‘The merchant adventures have been often wronged and wringed to the quick.’;

To bend or strain out of its position; as, to wring a mast.

To writhe; to twist, as with anguish.

Example: ‘'T is all men's office to speak patienceTo those that wring under the load of sorrow.’; ‘Look where the sister of the king of FranceSits wringing of her hands, and beats her breast.’;

A writhing, as in anguish; a twisting; a griping.

a twisting squeeze;

Example: ‘gave the wet cloth a wring’;

twist and press out of shape

twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish;

Example: ‘Wring one's hand’;

obtain by coercion or intimidation;

Example: ‘They extorted money from the executive by threatening to reveal his past to the company boss’; ‘They squeezed money from the owner of the business by threatening him’;

twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid;

Example: ‘wring the towels’;

squeeze and twist (something) to force liquid from it

Example: ‘she wrung the cloth out in the sink’;

extract (liquid) by squeezing and twisting something

Example: ‘I wrung out the excess water’;

squeeze (someone's hand) tightly, especially with sincere emotion

Example: ‘he fervently wrung Rose's hand’;

obtain (something) with difficulty or effort

Example: ‘few concessions were wrung from the government’;

break (an animal's neck) by twisting it forcibly

Example: ‘the chicken shrieked as one of the women wrung its neck’; ‘I'll wring her neck when I lay hands on her’;

cause pain or distress to

Example: ‘the letter must have wrung her heart’;

an act of squeezing or twisting something.

Incorrect or untrue.

Example: ‘Some of your answers were correct, and some were wrong.’;

Asserting something incorrect or untrue.

Example: ‘You're wrong: he's not Superman at all.’;

Immoral, not good, bad.

Example: ‘It is wrong to lie.’;

Improper; unfit; unsuitable.

Example: ‘A bikini is the wrong thing to wear on a cold day.’;

Not working; out of order.

Example: ‘Something is wrong with my cellphone.’; ‘Don't cry, honey. Tell me what's wrong.’;

Designed to be worn or placed inward; as, the wrong side of a garment or of a piece of cloth.

(obsolete) Twisted; wry.

Example: ‘a wrong nose’;

(informal) In a way that isn't right; incorrectly, wrongly.

Example: ‘I spelled several names wrong in my address book.’;

Something that is immoral or not good.

Example: ‘Injustice is a heinous wrong.’;

An instance of wronging someone (sometimes with possessive to indicate the wrongdoer).

The incorrect or unjust position or opinion.

The opposite of right; the concept of badness.

To treat unjustly; to injure or harm.

To deprive of some right, or to withhold some act of justice.

To slander; to impute evil to unjustly.

imp. of Wring. Wrung.

Twisted; wry; as, a wrong nose.

Not according to the laws of good morals, whether divine or human; not suitable to the highest and best end; not morally right; deviating from rectitude or duty; not just or equitable; not true; not legal; as, a wrong practice; wrong ideas; wrong inclinations and desires.

Not fit or suitable to an end or object; not appropriate for an intended use; not according to rule; unsuitable; improper; incorrect; as, to hold a book with the wrong end uppermost; to take the wrong way.

Example: ‘I have deceived you both; I have directed you to wrong places.’;

Not according to truth; not conforming to fact or intent; not right; mistaken; erroneous; as, a wrong statement.

Designed to be worn or placed inward; as, the wrong side of a garment or of a piece of cloth.

In a wrong manner; not rightly; amiss; morally ill; erroneously; wrongly.

Example: ‘Ten censure wrong for one that writes amiss.’;

That which is not right.

Example: ‘When I had wrong and she the right.’; ‘One spake much of right and wrong.’;

Deviation or departure from truth or fact; state of falsity; error; as, to be in the wrong.

Example: ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong.’; ‘As the king of England can do no wrong, so neither can he do right but in his courts and by his courts.’; ‘The obligation to redress a wrong is at least as binding as that of paying a debt.’;

To treat with injustice; to deprive of some right, or to withhold some act of justice from; to do undeserved harm to; to deal unjustly with; to injure.

Example: ‘He that sinneth . . . wrongeth his own soul.’;

To impute evil to unjustly; as, if you suppose me capable of a base act, you wrong me.

Example: ‘I rather chooseTo wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,Than I will wrong such honorable men.’;

that which is contrary to the principles of justice or law;

Example: ‘he feels that you are in the wrong’;

a legal injury is any damage resulting from a violation of a legal right

treat unjustly; do wrong to

not correct; not in conformity with fact or truth;

Example: ‘an incorrect calculation’; ‘the report in the paper is wrong’; ‘your information is wrong’; ‘the clock showed the wrong time’; ‘found themselves on the wrong road’; ‘based on the wrong assumptions’;

contrary to conscience or morality or law;

Example: ‘it is wrong for the rich to take advantage of the poor’; ‘cheating is wrong’; ‘it is wrong to lie’;

not appropriate for a purpose or occasion;

Example: ‘unsuitable attire for the office’; ‘said all the wrong things’;

not functioning properly;

Example: ‘something is amiss’; ‘has gone completely haywire’; ‘something is wrong with the engine’;

not according with the facts;

Example: ‘unfortunately the statement was simply untrue’; ‘the facts as reported were wrong’;

based on or acting or judging in error;

Example: ‘it is wrong to think that way’;

not in accord with established usage or procedure;

Example: ‘the wrong medicine’; ‘the wrong way to shuck clams’;

not conforming with accepted standards of propriety or taste; undesirable;

Example: ‘incorrect behavior’; ‘she was seen in all the wrong places’; ‘He thought it was wrong for her to go out to work’;

used of the side of cloth or clothing intended to face inward;

Example: ‘socks worn wrong side out’;

badly timed;

Example: ‘an ill-timed intervention’; ‘you think my intrusion unseasonable’; ‘an untimely remark’; ‘it was the wrong moment for a joke’;

in an incorrect manner;

Example: ‘she guessed wrong’;

not correct or true; incorrect

Example: ‘that is the wrong answer’;

having judged incorrectly; mistaken

Example: ‘I was wrong about him being on the yacht that evening’;

unsuitable or undesirable

Example: ‘the doctor may regard the patient's decision as wrong’;

in a bad or abnormal condition; amiss

Example: ‘something was wrong with the pump’;

unjust, dishonest, or immoral

Example: ‘they were wrong to take the law into their own hands’; ‘that was wrong of me’;

in an unsuitable or undesirable manner or direction

Example: ‘what am I doing wrong?’;

with an incorrect result

Example: ‘she guessed wrong’;

an unjust, dishonest, or immoral act

Example: ‘I have done you a great wrong’; ‘I was trying to teach my children right from wrong’;

act unjustly or dishonestly towards

Example: ‘they would kill a man who wronged a family’;

mistakenly attribute bad motives to; misrepresent

Example: ‘perhaps I wrong him’;