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Glite Dictionary
to bark up the wrong tree

to bark up the wrong tree

15 6.5
To be wrong about who or what caused something
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : equivocarse
  • You're barking up the wrong tree.
  • if you think you're barking up the wrong tree
  • go barking up the wrong tree

With that said, though, maybe we're barking up the wrong tree.

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Examples

  • I was barking up the wrong tree.

    Howard the Duck (1986)

  • However, every now and then police officers bark up the wrong tree.

    Blog text (2)

  • Sorry to say it, kid, but your friends are barking up the wrong tree.

    Paddington 2 (2017)

  • Boy, are you barking up the wrong tree.

    Frankie and Johnny (1991)

  • You know, maybe we're barking up the wrong tree.

    Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

  • "People who try to explain pictures are usually barking up the wrong tree."

    Blog text (29)

  • Which, by the way, is my position, so I think you are barking up the wrong tree here.

    Blog text (30)

  • You guys are barking up the wrong tree, as I see it.

    Blog text (12)

  • You're barking up the wrong tree on this one.

    88 Minutes (2007)

  • If you believe that talking more will fix the problem, you're barking up the wrong tree.

Synonyms

to take a wrong turn
vsto bark up the wrong tree
  • Informal
20 3.9

Choosing the wrong direction or decision causes trouble

chooses a wrong direction of effort or accusation rather than a small misstep
to make a blunder
vsto bark up the wrong tree
1 4.2

Do something that is a serious and embarrassing mistake

involves pursuing a wrong course or misdirected accusations rather than one error
down a blind alley
vsto bark up the wrong tree
  • Informal
1 8.1

Doing something that leads nowhere useful

pursues a wrong focus rather than merely being unproductive
to zig when he should zag
vsto bark up the wrong tree
  • Informal
9.9

To make the wrong choice when a different action is needed

chooses a misguided focus rather than merely acting opposite to needs

Antonyms

to stay on track
9 3.2

To focus on a goal without getting distracted

Surface Forms

bark up the wrong tree infinitive

Morphology

bark + up + the + wrong + tree

The literal image (a dog barking at the wrong tree) gives a loose, metaphorical cue that someone is directing effort or attention at the wrong target, so a learner who knows 'bark', 'wrong' and 'tree' might infer a general sense of mistaken focus. However, the specific sense of 'making a wrong accusation or pursuing a misguided course of action' is idiomatic and not fully predictable from the parts, and many learners will need prior exposure to map the metaphor to that pragmatic meaning.

Etymology

Bark up the wrong tree may come from hunters and their dogs. One popular story says a dog would bark at a tree where it thought the animal was, but if the animal had climbed a different tree the dog was literally 'barking up the wrong tree'. That's why the phrase now means 'blaming or going after the wrong person or idea'.