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wrongheaded

wrongheaded

6 8.0
Stubborn in keeping ideas that are wrong
  • adjective
  • /ˈrɔŋˌhɛdɪd/
translation icon : equivocado
  • "An opinion may be wrongheaded," Safire told me by email last week, "but it is never wrong."

Examples

  • "We thought this was a wrongheaded approach," said chamber spokesman Garrick Taylor.

    Blog text (24)
  • Many people consider his refusal to adapt to new technology as wrongheaded.

  • Once again, it is wrongheaded to look to social life for models represented in the minstrel show.

    Academic text (1990)
  • And that is what makes Richard's piece so wrongheaded.

    Academic text (2004)
  • I think his views are wrongheaded. Again, that doesn't involve you; it involves me and me alone.

    Blog text (3)
  • I also have no desire to participate in a government organization that I believe is wrongheaded and possibly unconstitutional.

    Blog text (10)
  • As a response to the threat the nation faces, complacency is at least as wrongheaded as hysteria.

    Academic text (2009)
  • The laws restricting speech (save a few categories) are, in my book, wrongheaded.

    Blog text (3)
  • I don't pretend to understand why seemingly reasonable and decent people adopt what strikes me as an obviously wrongheaded position on marriage equality.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Ignoring a seeming contradiction in these sentences, Toms continues by attacking what he sees as the organizers' wrongheaded reading of Thoreau.

    Academic text (1999)

Synonyms

misguided
vswrongheaded
129 4.6

Shows wrong ideas or bad judgment

adds a stubborn refusal to accept correction when wrong
dogmatic
vswrongheaded
18 7.9

State opinions as certainly correct and ignore other views

is wrong through stubborn adherence to mistaken ideas rather than mere certainty
pigheaded
vswrongheaded
  • Offensive
9 7.8

Refusing to change your mind or actions even when you are wrong

emphasizes holding mistaken ideas stubbornly rather than mere stubbornness
pinheaded
vswrongheaded
  • Offensive
1 8.0

Not willing to accept different ideas or change

focuses on being wrong and refusing correction rather than small-mindedness

Antonyms

595 2.7

Fair and sensible in thinking and behavior

80 3.7

Ready to listen to new ideas and accept different views

How Wrongheaded

perverse
78 7.9
pigheaded
  • Offensive
9 7.8
wrongheaded
6 8.0
misguided
129 4.6
mistaken
266 3.4

Surface Forms

wrongheaded positive

Morphology

wrongheaded = wrong + headed (transparent) = wrong + head + ed

Formed by compounding 'wrong' and 'headed' (head + -ed); the meaning 'having a wrong/misguided head' is directly inferable from the parts.

Etymology

The word wrongheaded is a simple combination of wrong ('not correct') and head or headed ('head' as 'mind' or the direction you are going), similar to the familiar word headstrong. So it gives the picture of a person whose 'head' is set the wrong way, and means someone who keeps to wrong or misguided ideas.