go horribly right

verb

To produce a technically correct result, but with highly undesirable consequences.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbgo horribly right (third-person singular simple present goes horribly right, present participle going horribly right, simple past went horribly right, past participle gone horribly right)

present singular third person goes horribly right · participle present going horribly right · past went horribly right · participle past gone horribly right

  1. idiomaticTo produce a technically correct result, but with highly undesirable consequences.

    I describe it as a stunt that went horribly right because it was designed to fail, in the sense that Chas was going to be the comic relief, to be deployed when we got stopped.

    2020 January 19, Julian Morrow (quoted), Jenny Valentish, Naaman Zhou, “How The Chaser invaded Apec: 'A small video tape was secreted behind his scrotum'”, in The Guardian
Cite this entry
APA

go horribly right. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20horribly%20right

MLA

“go horribly right.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20horribly%20right. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go horribly right,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20horribly%20right.

Source: go horribly right on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.