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awry

American  
[uh-rahy] / əˈraɪ /

adverb

  1. with a turn or twist to one side; askew.

    to glance or look awry.

  2. away from the expected or proper direction; amiss; wrong.

    Our plans went awry.
awry British  
/ əˈraɪ /

adverb

  1. with a slant or twist to one side; askew

  2. away from the appropriate or right course; amiss

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of awry

First recorded in 1325–75, awry is from Middle English on wry. See a- 1, wry

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Well, if you use ChatGPT to plan it, maybe just bake in extra time in case things go awry.

From Slate • Mar. 28, 2026

Despite my quibbles with how her character reacts when things really go awry, Kiri’s Evy has a clarity of purpose that holds our attention despite not having that much to do.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2026

History is littered with examples of big media mergers going awry, many of them involving some permutation of Warner Bros.:

From MarketWatch • Feb. 27, 2026

This is also what makes them so pressurized and painful when they go awry.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026

She nearly balled it up and tossed it toward her garbage can, which was already overflowing with other drawings gone awry.

From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.