right
Meanings
- 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: →
- Clockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.
- Complying with justice, correctness, or reason; correct, just, true. See also the interjection senses below.
- Appropriate, perfectly suitable; fit for purpose.
- Healthy, sane, competent.
- Real; veritable (used emphatically).
- Of an angle, measuring 90 degrees, or one quarter of a complete rotation; the angle between two perpendicular lines.
- Of a geometric figure, incorporating a right angle between edges, faces, axes, etc.
- 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.
- Designed to be placed or worn outward.
- Pertaining to the political right; conservative.
- All right; not requiring assistance.
- On the right side.
- Towards the right side.
- Exactly, precisely.
- Immediately, directly.
- Very, extremely, quite.
- To a great extent or degree.
- According to fact or truth; actually; truly; really.
- In a correct manner.
- Yes, that is correct; I agree.
- I have listened to what you just said and I acknowledge your assertion or opinion, regardless of whether I agree with it (opinion) or can verify it (assertion).
- Signpost word to change the subject in a discussion or discourse.
- Used to check listener engagement and (especially) agreement at the end of an utterance or each segment thereof.
- Used to add seriousness or decisiveness before a statement.
- That which complies with justice, law or reason.
- A legal, just or moral entitlement.
- The right side or direction.
- The right hand or fist.
- The authority to perform, publish, film, or televise a particular work, event, etc.; a copyright.
- The ensemble of right-wing political parties; political conservatives as a group.
- The outward or most finished surface, as of a coin, piece of cloth, a carpet, etc.
- A wave breaking from right to left (viewed from the shore).
- To correct.
- To set upright.
- To return to normal upright position.
- To do justice to; to relieve from wrong; to restore rights to; to assert or regain the rights of.
- The political right wing seen as a whole, as distinguished from an individual right-wing political party.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English right, from Old English riht, reht (“right,” also the word for “straight” and “direct”), from Proto-West Germanic *reht, from Proto-Germanic *rehtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“having moved in a straight line”), from *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, direct”). The Germanic adjective which has been used also as a noun since the common Germanic period. Cognates Cognate with West Frisian rjocht (“right”), Dutch recht (“straight”), German recht and Recht (“right”), Luxembourgish Recht, riets (“right”), riicht (“straight”), Yiddish רעכט (rekht, “right”), Danish ret (“right”), Faroese rættur (“right”), Icelandic réttur (“right”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk rett (“right”), Swedish rätt, rät (“right”). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek ὀρεκτός (orektós) and Latin rēctus; Albanian drejt was borrowed from Latin.