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awry

awry

39 6.8
Not happening as planned and causing trouble
  • adjective
  • /əˈraɪ/
translation icon : salir mal
  • At this point, things have gone awry, at least in terms of my own experience with this type of work.
  • go awry
  • plans go awry
  • things went awry

Under adverse circumstances, the calibrations and calculations of neighborliness can go appallingly awry.

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Examples

  • Despite careful preparation, the event went awry because of the sudden rainstorm.

  • And just once in a while it goes awry.

  • How close do you think we are to things going really awry in this country?

  • In any event, something appeared to go awry in the early 1970s.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Their plans go awry so often, however, that they do not appear to be very autonomous.

    Academic text (1997)
  • And without great parenting, things can go awry.

  • Graham and the team are going through everything as quickly as they can to solve this, to find out what's gone awry.

  • His original plan had gone awry; he grudgingly admitted to himself.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • And when systems go awry, it's when they don't bring in different perspectives.

  • Still, as any scientist can testify, much can go awry between the promising laboratory results.

    Academic text (1994)

Synonyms

wrong
vsawry
1.0

Not working correctly

is broader, covering plans and situations going into disorder or failure
amiss
vsawry
3 6.8

In a wrong way when something does not happen as it should

focuses on plans failing or disorder rather than simple mistakes
haywire
vsawry
  • Informal
1 7.5

Not working as it should and often out of control

covers general failures or disorder without implying extreme chaos or loss of control
agley
vsawry
  • Archaic
9.9

In a way that is wrong or does not go as planned

is the general state of plans or order being disrupted

Antonyms

1.6

You have achieved what you wanted

How Wrong

disastrous
126 3.5
awry
39 6.8
problematic
133 5.6
amiss
27 5.8
intended
2.6

Surface Forms

awry positive

Morphology

awry = wry (semi-transparent) = a + wry

The figurative sense 'not as planned' is a metaphorical extension of 'twisted/off to one side', so the relation to 'wry' is clear but not strictly literal.

Etymology

The word awry comes from a- 'on' plus wry 'twisted', giving the picture of something 'twisted' away from how it should be. So, when a plan goes awry, it means it has gone off course or not as planned.