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right

Pronunciation: /ɹaɪt/

The English word “right” has 20 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Designating the side of the body which is positioned to the east if one is facing north, the side on which the heart is not located in most humans. This arrow points to the reader's right: →
  2. Clockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.
  3. Complying with justice, correctness, or reason; correct, just, true. See also the interjection senses below.
  4. Appropriate, perfectly suitable; fit for purpose.
  5. Healthy, sane, competent.
  6. Real; veritable (used emphatically).
  7. Of an angle, measuring 90 degrees, or one quarter of a complete rotation; the angle between two perpendicular lines.
  8. Of a geometric figure, incorporating a right angle between edges, faces, axes, etc.
  9. Designating the bank of a river (etc.) on one's right when facing downstream (i.e. facing forward while floating with the current); that is, the south bank of a river that flows eastward. If this arrow: ⥴ shows the direction of the current, the tilde is on the right side of the river.
  10. Designed to be placed or worn outward.
  11. Pertaining to the political right; conservative.
  12. All right; not requiring assistance.
  13. Most favourable or convenient; fortunate.
  14. Straight, not bent.
  15. Of or relating to the right whale.

adverb

  1. On the right side.
  2. Towards the right side.
  3. Exactly, precisely.
  4. Immediately, directly.
  5. Very, extremely, quite.

Etymology

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”). The Germanic…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.