incorrect

Pluralincorrects

1. 1
   adjective

   Not correct; mistaken, erroneous, or otherwise wrong in fact or detail.

   The report cited an incorrect population figure for the county.

   Her guess about the flight time proved incorrect by several hours.

   Similarwrong, inaccurate, mistaken, erroneous, false

   Oppositecorrect, accurate, right

   Note

   The word came into English from Middle French, yet it reads as simply in- added to correct, and it behaves that way: it is the plain negative of correct, used of answers, figures and facts. It compares with more and most (more incorrect, most incorrect) rather than with -er and -est. Where wrong can sound blunt or moral, incorrect keeps the focus on accuracy.

2. 2
   adjective

   Inappropriate or improper; not suitable to the occasion or to accepted standards of behavior.

   Arriving an hour late without a word of apology is simply incorrect.

   His jokes at the memorial service were incorrect, and several guests quietly left.

   Similarimproper, inappropriate, unseemly, unsuitable, wrong

   Oppositeproper, appropriate, correct

3. 3
   adjective

   Faulty or defective; not made or functioning as it should be.

   The recall targeted vehicles whose airbag sensors were incorrect and might fail to trigger.

   The clock ran slow for years because of an incorrect spring that finally snapped.

   Similarfaulty, defective

4. 4
   nouncountable

   An item or response that is wrong, such as a missed answer on a test or quiz.

   The teacher circled every incorrect in red ink before handing the exams back.

   His score dropped sharply after three incorrects in the final round.

   Similarerror, mistake

   Note

   A tally word from scoring and record-keeping, where answers are counted rather than judged. Julie Vargas's Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching (2013) writes each day's rates of "corrects and incorrects" next to a graph. The noun is most at home in the plural and beside its partner corrects. Outside a score sheet, a missed answer is more naturally an incorrect answer, using the everyday adjective.

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