wrong 'un

noun

A dishonest or disreputable person; a crook or rogue.

Similar
googlybosiebosie ball

Meanings

nounwrong 'un (plural wrong 'uns)

plural wrong 'uns · alternative wrong'un · alternative wrongen

  1. UKderogatoryslangA dishonest or disreputable person; a crook or rogue.

    Some reasons why Naseem Hamed might have been stripped of his MBE for speeding, where acknowledged wrong 'uns Jeffrey Archer, Shirley Porter and Mark Thatcher kept their honours.

    2007 January 5, The Guardian, G2 p. 3
    1 more example

    We might not have had that much to pinch, but they'd still have your brass candlesticks off the mantelpiece. There's always wrong 'uns, in every walk of life, who'll have whatever you've got from under your nose.

    2000, Gilda O'Neill, My East End: Memories of Life in Cockney London
  2. ball gamesA googly.
  3. hobbiesA horse deliberately held back in order to lose a race.

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna cricket ball bowled as if to break one way that actually breaks in the opposite way

Similar
googlybosiebosie ball
Broader
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

wrong 'un. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wrong%20'un

MLA

“wrong 'un.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wrong%20'un. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wrong 'un,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wrong%20'un.

Source: wrong 'un on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.