wrong place at the wrong time
16
7.5
- idiom
:
en el lugar equivocado en el momento equivocado
- You happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- just in the wrong place at the wrong time
- caught in the wrong place at the wrong time
- again in the wrong place at the wrong time
And he said, Mark, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- And he said, Mark, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- Why are some people in the wrong place at the wrong time?
- He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and basically it was a robbery gone wrong.
- And it's what a terrifying situation she's, as Gavin put it, Ron Goldman was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- I don't think they were assassination, but really I think they were just plane accidents where I happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- But he was born in a certain in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he was following the rules.
- It it, it seems that he was to some extent in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Examples
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It simply means I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Blog text (5) -
Often it boiled down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Academic text (2005) -
I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
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I think we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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Oh, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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The poor boy was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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Well, some people are just always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Fiction book (2000) -
They were both in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
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I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time when the accident happened.
Antonyms
How Suitable
Surface Forms
Morphology
wrong + place + at + the + wrong + time
The meaning is directly built from the constituents: 'wrong' modifies 'place' and 'time' and 'at' links presence to a specific moment, so a learner knowing those words can infer being present where/when something unfortunate happens. This compositional pattern is common across languages (e.g. Spanish/French equivalents), so it is immediately understandable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Wrong place at the wrong time creates a clear picture: you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, like standing on a street just as an accident starts. So it means 'unlucky' or 'involved in trouble' simply because you happened to be there.