right – English adjective declension

English adjective forms of right

Adjective: right

Comparison Forms

Synthetic

Comparativefurther right; farther right; righter
Superlativefurthest right; farthest right; rightmost; rightest

Perifrastic

Comparativemore right
Superlativemost right

Sample Sentences

  • Near-synonym: starboard
  • After the accident, her right leg was slightly shorter than her left.
  • The road up ahead contains a right bend.
  • Rotate the bolt to the right to tighten it.
  • That's not the right thing to do.
  • So I was right all along? C'mon. I want to hear you say it.
  • If there be no prospect beyond the grave, the inference is certainly right, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." [1610, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II:]
  • there are some dispositions blame-worthy in men, which are yet, in a right sense, holily ascribed unto God; as unchangeableness, and irrepentance. [1808, Bishop Joseph Hall, Devotional works:]
  • What do you send me into London for, giving me only the right to call for my dinner at the Black Lion, which you’re to pay for next time you go, as if I was not to be trusted with a few shillings? Why do you use me like this? It’s not right of you. You can’t expect me to be quiet under it. [1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 13, in Barnaby Rudge:]
  • Sam Tyler: Look, look, you know when I said I wasn't wrong? Well, I was. But I was right about this not being the IRA. I was right to follow my instincts. Like you said, go with your gut feeling. I'm just taking your lead.
  • Gene Hunt: So I'm right.
  • Sam Tyler: We both are.
  • Gene Hunt: Right.
  • Sam Tyler: Right.
  • Gene Hunt: Just as long as I'm more right than you. [2007 March 6, Julie Rutterford, Life on Mars, Season 2, Episode 3:]
  • But when that patient requests access to medical care that violates some religious tenet, is it right that he or she either be denied outright or forced to seek an alternative facility? [2018 January 4, Catherine Ford, “Religious-Based Health Care Raises Ethical Questions”, in Calgary Herald:]
  • Of course, I was not always right. I questioned the value of Crossrail (a scheme revived by Prescott after being scrapped by the Conservatives), suggesting wrongly that it may be "doomed to hit the buffers" […]. A dozen years later, I published my book on it, extolling the line's wonders. We are all allowed to change our minds. [2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 61:]
  • Is this the right software for my computer?
  • I'm afraid my father is no longer in his right mind.
  • “If I didn’t know the dear old fellow so well by now,” Tennington remarked to Miss Strong, “I should be quite certain that he was—er—not quite right, don’t you know.” [1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 202:]
  • You've made a right mess of the kitchen!
  • He's got a wicked sense of fun, he can be a right laugh, he's ever so broadminded – ooh, and he's got a lovely broad chest too. [2016, Sarah Harvey, A Laugh-out-loud Modern Love Story:]
  • […]in this battle and whole business the Britons never more plainly manifested themselves to be right barbarians: no rule, no foresight, no forecast, experience, or estimation [1670, John Milton, The History of Britain:]
  • The kitchen counter formed a right angle with the back wall.
  • a right triangle   a right prism   a right cone
  • The Louvre Museum is on the right bank of the Seine.
  • the right side of a piece of cloth   Begin this stitch on the right side.
  • Kirsty: I suppose you're hungry. Would you like something to eat?
  • Ken: No. I'm right, thanks. [1986, David Williamson, “What If You Died Tomorrow”, in Collected plays, volume 1, Currency Press, page 310:]
  • When the sales assistant sees the customer, she asks Are you right, sir? This means Are you all right? She wants to know if he needs any help. [2001, Catherine Menagé, Access to English, National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, NSW: Sydney, page 25:]
  • 'You lost?'
  • Colin spun round. Looking at him was a nurse, her eyebrows raised. / 'No, I'm right, thanks,' said Colin.' [2001, Morris Gleitzman, Two weeks with the Queen, Pan Macmillan Australia, page 75:]
  • The lady has been disappointed on the right side. [c. 1707, “Joseph Addison”, in The Tatler:]
  • a right line
  • In the course of the day we saw several large whales of the right species, and innumerable flights of the albatross passed over the vessel. [1838, [Edgar Allan Poe], The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:]

Adjectives inflected like right

right, forward, left,

Etymology

1. From Middle English reȝt, right, righte, riht, riȝt, riȝte, ryght, ryȝt, from Old English reht, reoht, rieht, riht, ryht (“right,” also the word for “straight” and “direct”), from Proto-West Germanic *reht, from Proto-Germanic *rehtaz (“right, straight; just, morally upright”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“right, straightened”), from *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten; to righten”).
2. The Germanic adjective which has been used also as a noun since the common Germanic period.
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Scots richt (“right”), Yola reights, rights (“rights”), North Frisian recht, rocht, rucht (“right”), Saterland Frisian gjucht (“right”), West Frisian rjocht (“straight”), Central Franconian rääch (“right”), Dutch recht (“straight”), German recht, Recht (“right”), Limburgish réët (“right”), Luxembourgish Recht, riets (“right”), riicht (“straight”), Yiddish רעכט (rekht, “right”), Danish ret (“right”), Faroese rættur (“right”), Icelandic réttur (“right”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk rett (“right”), Swedish rät (“straight”), rätt (“right”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 (raihts, “straight; correct”). The Indo-European root is also the source of Breton reiñ (“to give”), Cornish ri (“to give; to grant; to present”), Irish reachd, reacht (“law, statute; authority; dispensation”), Scottish Gaelic reachd (“law, right; command, power”), Welsh rhoddi, rhoi (“to give; to put”), Latin rēctus (“led straight along; correct, right; just, lawful”), Ancient Greek ὀρεκτός (orektós, “stretched out; longed for”), Latvian redzēt (“to see”), Lithuanian regėti (“to see, view”), Avestan 𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰𐬎 (ər^əzu, “straight”), Baluchi راست (rást, “right”), Central Kurdish ڕاست (rast, “right; straight”), Northern Kurdish rast (“straight; right; true; erect; direct”), Ossetian раст (rast, “honest, true; correct; exact; straight; fair; direct”), Persian راس (rās / râs), راست (râst, “straight; direct; true; erect”), Zazaki raşt (“right; straight”), Sanskrit ऋजु (ṛju, “straight; honest, sincere”). See: Dutch Adjectives 'recht', German Adjectives 'recht', Swedish Adjectives 'rät', Gothic Adjectives '𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃'.

Verbs referencing "right"

German Adjectives recht, Swedish Adjectives rak.