correct - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

Borrowed from French correct, from Latin correctus (“improved, amended, correct”), past participle of corrigere, conrigere (“to make straight, make right, make better, improve, correct”), from com- (“together”) + combining form of regō, regere (“I rule, make straight”).

correct (comparative more correct, superlative most correct)

  1. Free from error; true; accurate.
    Synonym: right
    Antonyms: incorrect, inaccurate, wrong
    Your test was completely correct, you get 10 out of 10
    We all agreed they'd made the correct decision.
  2. With good manners; well behaved; conforming with accepted standards of behaviour.
    Synonyms: well-mannered, well-behaved
    Antonym: uncouth

free from error

with good manners

correct

  1. Used to indicate acknowledgement or acceptance.
    Synonym: OK

correct (plural corrects)

  1. A correct response.
    • 2013, Julie Vargas, Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching:
      Having each day's rates of corrects and incorrects written next to the graph also makes it easier for you to check the […] If you also have students count problems incorrect, calling them “not yets,” or “learning opportunities,” or […]

From Middle English correcten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman correcter, from Latin correctus.

correct (third-person singular simple present corrects, present participle correcting, simple past and past participle corrected)

  1. (transitive) To make something that was wrong become right; to remove error from.
    You'll need to correct your posture if you're going to be a professional dancer.
    The navigator corrected the course of the ship.
    • 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 27:
      Her millions of adoring fans had yet to hear her speak, and when she finally did, she sounded more like a sailor than a starlet, spewing a profanity-laced, G-dropping Brooklynese that no amount of dialect coaching could correct.
  2. (by extension, transitive) To grade (examination papers).
    The teacher stayed up all night correcting exams.
  3. (transitive) To inform (someone) of their error.
    It's rude to correct your parents.
  4. (transitive) To discipline; to punish.

to make something become right that was previously wrong

Borrowed from Middle French correct, from Latin corrēctus.

correct (comparative correcter, superlative correctst)

  1. correct
Declension of correct
uninflected correct
inflected correcte
comparative correcter
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial correct correcter het correctsthet correctste
indefinite m./f. sing. correcte correctere correctste
n. sing. correct correcter correctste
plural correcte correctere correctste
definite correcte correctere correctste
partitive corrects correcters —

Borrowed from Latin correctus.

correct (feminine correcte, masculine plural corrects, feminine plural correctes)

  1. correct, right
    Votre réponse est correcte. ― Your answer is correct.
  2. (colloquial) passable, okay
    Le restaurant auquel nous sommes allés était correct, sans plus. ― The restaurant we went to was okay, but nothing more.
  3. (Quebec, colloquial) OK, fine, alright
    J’suis tellement désolé! T’es correct? ― I'm so sorry! You OK?
    Ouais, c’est correct. ― Yeah, it's fine.