wrongness
(ˈrɒŋnɪs)
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
† 1. The state or condition of being curved or crooked; crookedness, wryness. Obs. rare.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 534/2 Wrongnesse, of werke,..curvitas. c 1475 Ibid. 433/2 (K.), Ryth, with owtyn wrongnesse, rectus. |
2. Want of correctness or exactness; unsuitability or inappropriateness to a desired purpose or end; faultiness, error.
| 1726 Butler Serm. 306 There was a Probability, if he could see the whole Reference of the Parts appearing wrong to the general Design, that this would destroy the Appearance of Wrongness and Disproportion. 1796 Coleridge Biog. Lit. (1847) II. 365 Though not right in itself, it may become right by the greater wrongness of the only alternative—the remaining in neediness and uncertainty. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. iii, This is indeed a time when right Education is, as nearly as may be, impossible: however, in degrees of wrongness there is no limit. 1871 Ruskin Fors Clav. v. 10 The Botanical lecturer was, to the extremity of wrongness, wrong. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 4 Sept. 2/1 Her gown, even her gloves—everything that could be wrong was wrong, with the worst of all wrongness. |
3. The character or quality of being morally wrong or wrongful; injustice, wrongfulness.
In frequent use from c 1870.
| 1833 Chalmers Const. Man (1834) I. ii. 100 Malice, envy, falsehood, injustice, irrespective of their wrongness [etc.]. 1843 Miall in Nonconf. III. 1 As if a man's sense of rightness and wrongness were nothing. 1851 H. Spencer Soc. Statics x. §1. 128 To determine the rightness or wrongness of certain actions. 1881 Gentl. Mag. CCL. 164 When nature..is..chastising us right and left for our wrongness, it is no time to sit at ease. |
4. a. A wrong bent, tendency, or inclination. rare.
| 1736 Butler Anal. ii. v. 203 The Wrongnesses within themselves which the best complain of, and endeavour to amend. 1799 W. Gilpin Serm. x. 119 What wrongnesses do such thoughts produce..in our tempers, in our behaviour! |
b. A wrongful, unfair, or faulty act or action; a wrong, injustice.
| 1856 Faber Creator & Creature iii. iv. (1858) 457 All our wants..and all our wrongnesses carry their manifold burdens to God's fidelity. |