right
noun
- relative direction
- entitlement
- within the right-most portion of a larger whole
verb
- to adjust or restore to the proper state or condition
- make right, correct
adverb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L333560 on Wikidata ↗interjection
- exactly! true!
adjective
- in/to the relative direction that is opposite to the left
- correct, not wrong, appropriate
- good, sound, suitable, approve of
- fitting, to size
- politically leaning towards conservative
- morally/legally appropriate
- suited to
- within the right-most portion of a larger whole
- for rotating objects clockwise (righty-tighty, lefty-loosy)
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɹaɪt/ / [ˈɹaɪt] / /ˈɹɑjt/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English reȝt, right, righte, riht, riȝt, riȝte, ryght, ryȝt, from Old English reht, reoht, rieht, riht, ryht (“right,” also the word for “straight” and “direct”), from Proto-West Germanic *reht, from Proto-Germanic *rehtaz (“right, straight; just, morally upright”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“right, straightened”), from *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten; to righten”). The Germanic adjective which has been used also as a noun since the common Germanic period. Cognates Cognate with Scots richt (“right”), Yola reights, rights (“rights”), North Frisian recht, rocht, rucht (“right”), Saterland Frisian gjucht (“right”), West Frisian rjocht (“straight”), Central Franconian rääch (“right”), Dutch recht (“straight”), German recht, Recht (“right”), Limburgish réët (“right”), Luxembourgish Recht, riets (“right”), riicht (“straight”), Yiddish רעכט (rekht, “right”), Danish ret (“right”), Faroese rættur (“right”), Icelandic réttur (“right”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk rett (“right”), Swedish rät, rätt (“right”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 (raihts, “straight; correct”). The Indo-European root is also the source of Breton reiñ (“to give”), Cornish ri (“to give; to grant; to present”), Irish reachd, reacht (“law, statute; authority; dispensation”), Scottish Gaelic reachd (“law, right; command, power”), Welsh rhoddi, rhoi (“to give; to put”), Latin rēctus (“led straight along; correct, right; just, lawful”), Ancient Greek ὀρεκτός (orektós, “stretched out; longed for”), Latvian redzēt (“to see”), Lithuanian regėti (“to see, view”), Avestan 𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰𐬎 (ər^əzu, “straight”), Baluchi راست (rást, “right”), Central Kurdish ڕاست (rast, “right; straight”), Northern Kurdish rast (“straight; right; true; erect; direct”), Ossetian раст (rast, “honest, true; correct; exact; straight; fair; direct”), Persian راس (rās / râs), راست (râst, “straight; direct; true; erect”), Zazaki raşt (“right; straight”), Sanskrit ऋजु (ṛju, “straight; honest, sincere”).
- Designating the side of the body which is positioned to the east if one is facing north, the side on which the heart is not located in most humans. This arrow points to the reader's right: →
“Near-synonym: starboard”
“After the accident, her right leg was slightly shorter than her left.”
- Clockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.
“The road up ahead contains a right bend.”
“Rotate the bolt to the right to tighten it.”
- Complying with justice, correctness, or reason; correct, just, true. See also the interjection senses below.
“That's not the right thing to do.”
“So I was right all along? C'mon. I want to hear you say it.”
- Appropriate, perfectly suitable; fit for purpose.
“Is this the right software for my computer?”
- Healthy, sane, competent.
“I'm afraid my father is no longer in his right mind.”
““If I didn’t know the dear old fellow so well by now,” Tennington remarked to Miss Strong, “I should be quite certain that he was—er—not quite right, don’t you know.””
- Real; veritable (used emphatically).
“You've made a right mess of the kitchen!”
“He's got a wicked sense of fun, he can be a right laugh, he's ever so broadminded – ooh, and he's got a lovely broad chest too.”
- Of an angle, measuring 90 degrees, or one quarter of a complete rotation; the angle between two perpendicular lines.
“The kitchen counter formed a right angle with the back wall.”
- Of a geometric figure, incorporating a right angle between edges, faces, axes, etc.
“a right triangle a right prism a right cone”
- Designating the bank of a river (etc.) on one's right when facing downstream (i.e. facing forward while floating with the current); that is, the south bank of a river that flows eastward. If this arrow: ⥴ shows the direction of the current, the tilde is on the right side of the river.
“The Louvre Museum is on the right bank of the Seine.”
- Designed to be placed or worn outward.
“the right side of a piece of cloth Begin this stitch on the right side.”
- Pertaining to the political right; conservative.
- All right; not requiring assistance.
“Kirsty: I suppose you're hungry. Would you like something to eat? Ken: No. I'm right, thanks.”
“When the sales assistant sees the customer, she asks Are you right, sir? This means Are you all right? She wants to know if he needs any help.”
- Most favourable or convenient; fortunate.
“The lady has been disappointed on the right side.”
- Straight, not bent.
“a right line”
- Of or relating to the right whale.
“In the course of the day we saw several large whales of the right species, and innumerable flights of the albatross passed over the vessel.”
adv
Etymology: From Middle English right, righte, from Old English rihte, rehte (“right; rightly; due; directly; straight”), from Proto-Germanic *rehta, from *rehtaz (“right; straight”).
- On the right side.
- Towards the right side.
- Exactly, precisely.
“The arrow landed right in the middle of the target.”
“Luckily we arrived right at the start of the film.”
- Immediately, directly.
“Can't you see it? It's right beside you!”
“Tom was standing right in front of the TV, blocking everyone's view.”
- Very, extremely, quite.
“I made a right stupid mistake there, didn't I?”
“I stubbed my toe a week ago and it still hurts right much.”
- Very, extremely, quite.
“Sir, I am right glad to meet you …”
“Members of the Queen's Privy Council are styled The Right Honourable for life.”
- According to fact or truth; actually; truly; really.
- In a correct manner.
“Do it right or don't do it at all.”
“Nothing is going right for me lately.”
intj
Etymology: From Middle English right, righte, from Old English rihte, rehte (“right; rightly; due; directly; straight”), from Proto-Germanic *rehta, from *rehtaz (“right; straight”).
- Yes, that is correct; I agree.
“Sam Tyler: Look, look, you know when I said I wasn't wrong? Well, I was. But I was right about this not being the IRA. I was right to follow my instincts. Like you said, go with your gut feeling. I'm just taking your lead. Gene Hunt: So I'm right. Sam Tyler: We both are. Gene Hunt: Right. Sam Tyler: Right. Gene Hunt: Just as long as I'm more right than you.”
“Tell her you’re here. Right. Thanks, Pete.”
- I have listened to what you just said and I acknowledge your assertion or opinion, regardless of whether I agree with it (opinion) or can verify it (assertion).
“Sam Tyler: Look, look, you know when I said I wasn't wrong? Well, I was. But I was right about this not being the IRA. I was right to follow my instincts. Like you said, go with your gut feeling. I'm just taking your lead. Gene Hunt: So I'm right. Sam Tyler: We both are. Gene Hunt: Right. Sam Tyler: Right. Gene Hunt: Just as long as I'm more right than you.”
“— United's the best team in the country, so they'll come up with something. — Right. And do you think they'll go all the way?”
- Signpost word to change the subject in a discussion or discourse.
“— After that interview, I don't think we should hire her. — Right. Who wants lunch?”
- Used to check listener engagement and (especially) agreement at the end of an utterance or each segment thereof.
“You're going, right?”
“I went downstairs, right, and I was going to call her, but I found this note, right, so what am I supposed to do now?”
- Used to add seriousness or decisiveness before a statement.
“Withnail: Right […] I'm gonna do the washing up.”
name
- The political right wing seen as a whole, as distinguished from an individual right-wing political party.
“Many earnest consumers on the Right feel so legitimately embattled by the nonstop streaming feed of hate speech and psyoppery directed at them that they think they have no choice but to reconfigure their artistic sensibilities accordingly.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English right, from Old English riht, reht, ġeriht (“that which is right, just, or proper”), from Proto-West Germanic *reht, from Proto-Germanic *rehtą (“a right”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtom, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵt- (“to straighten; direct”). Cognate with Dutch recht (“a right; privilege”), German Recht (“a right”), Danish ret (“a right”).
- That which complies with justice, law or reason.
“We're on the side of right in this contest.”
“Throughout our history, whenever evil forces prevailed, the altruistic and upright people have always shown their great wisdom by adhering to the right against the wrong, renouncing wrongful gain for justice, displaying their great benevolence in national salvation and summoning their great courage to surmount the crisis and turn back the perverse tide.”
- A legal, just or moral entitlement.
“You have no right to go through my personal diary.”
“There are no rights whatever, without corresponding duties.”
- The right side or direction.
“The pharmacy is just on the right past the bookshop.”
- The right hand or fist.
“"Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right, and he was sprawling on his back on the floor."”
“Mr. Carrados smiled a good-humoured tolerance of the imbroglio in which they had both landed, leaned back in his chair and dropped a careless right into his coat pocket.”
- The authority to perform, publish, film, or televise a particular work, event, etc.; a copyright.
- The ensemble of right-wing political parties; political conservatives as a group.
“The political right holds too much power.”
“Sunak seems so scared of his party's swivel-eyed right wing that he has been panicked into focusing all new legislation on perceived 'red meat' issues which he hopes the Tory right will support.”
- The outward or most finished surface, as of a coin, piece of cloth, a carpet, etc.
“Simple cross-stitch, with a space between each stitch, may be worked in two rows, in which case the completed stitch on the wrong sides alternates with that on the right.”
“For the large size, two pieces of silk, eighteen inches wide and twenty-seven inches long, are sewed together at three sides, rights together, leaving one end open.”
- A wave breaking from right to left (viewed from the shore).
verb
Etymology: From Middle English righten, reghten, riȝten, from Old English rihtan, ġerihtan (“to straighten, judge, set upright, set right”), from Proto-West Germanic *rihtijan, from Proto-Germanic *rihtijaną (“to straighten; rectify; judge”).
- To correct.
“Righting all the wrongs of the war immediately will be impossible.”
- To set upright.
“The tow-truck righted what was left of the automobile.”
- To return to normal upright position.
“When the wind died down, the ship righted.”
- To do justice to; to relieve from wrong; to restore rights to; to assert or regain the rights of.
“to right the oppressed”
“So just is God, to right the innocent.”