correct

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈɹɛkt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cor‧rect
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French correct, from Latin correctus (“improved, amended, correct”), past participle of corrigere, conrigere (“to make straight, make right, make better, improve, correct”), from com- (“together”) + combining form of regō, regere (“I rule, make straight”).

Adjective

correct (comparative more correct, superlative most correct)

1. Free from error; true; accurate; astute.

   Your test was completely correct, you get 10 out of 10

   We all agreed they'd made the correct decision.

2. With good manners; well behaved; conforming with accepted standards of behaviour.

Synonyms

• (free from error): right
• (with good manners): well-mannered, well behaved
• astute

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "without error"): incorrect, inaccurate
• (antonym(s) of "with good manners"): uncouth

Derived terms

Terms derived from correct (adjective)

• all correct
• anatomically correct
• come correct
• conservatively correct
• const-correct
• correctly
• correctness
• hypercorrect
• incorrect
• k'rect card
• patriotically correct
• politically correct

 

Translations

free from error

• Ainu: ピㇼカ (pirka)
• American Sign Language: 1@RadialHand-FingerForwardAcross-1@CenterChesthigh-FingerForwardAcross
• Arabic: صَحِيح (ar) (ṣaḥīḥ), صَوَاب (ṣawāb)

  Egyptian Arabic: صَح (ṣaḥ)

• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܬܪܨ (traṣ)

• Armenian: ճիշտ (hy) (čišt)
• Assamese: শুধ (xudho), শুদ্ধ (xuddho)
• Asturian: correutu
• Azerbaijani: doğru (az)
• Bashkir: дөрөҫ (döröś)
• Belarusian: праві́льны (pravílʹny)
• Breton: reizh (br)
• Bulgarian: ве́рен (bg) (véren), пра́вилен (bg) (právilen)
• Burmese: မှန် (my) (hman)
• Catalan: correcte (ca), condret (ca)
• Chamicuro: nanatolo
• Cherokee: ᏚᏳᎪᏛᎢ (duyugodvi)
• Chinese:

  Eastern Min: 正確／正确 (ciáng-káuk)

  Mandarin: 正確／正确 (zh) (zhèngquè), 對／对 (zh) (duì)

• Czech: správný (cs)
• Danish: korrekt (da), rigtig (da)
• Dutch: correct (nl), juist (nl)
• Erzya: виде (viďe)
• Esperanto: ĝusta, prava (eo)
• Estonian: õige (et)
• Faroese: rættur (fo)
• Finnish: oikea (fi), oikeellinen (fi)
• French: correct (fr)
• Galician: correcto (gl)
• Georgian: სწორი (sc̣ori), უშეცდომო (ušecdomo), ზუსტი (zusṭi)
• German: korrekt (de), richtig (de), einwandfrei (de)
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌾𐌹𐍃 (sunjis), 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 (raihts)
• Greek: σωστός (el) (sostós)

  Ancient: ὀρθός (orthós)

• Hawaiian: pololei
• Hebrew: נָכוֹן (he) (nakhon), נְכוֹנָה f (nekhona)
• Hindi: सही (hi) (sahī), ठीक (hi) (ṭhīk)
• Hungarian: hibátlan (hu), helyes (hu)
• Icelandic: rétt
• Indonesian: tepat (id)
• Ingrian: vernoi
• Isan: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: corretto (it), esatto (it)
• Japanese: 正しい (ja) (ただしい, tadashii), 正解 (ja) (せいかい, seikai)
• Kazakh: дұрыс (dūrys)
• Khmer: ត្រឹមត្រូវ (trəm trəv)
• Korean: 옳다 (ko) (olta), 맞다 (ko) (matda), 바르다 (ko) (bareuda), 정확하다 (ko) (jeonghwakhada)
• Kyrgyz: туура (ky) (tuura), түз (ky) (tüz), дурус (ky) (durus)
• Lao: ແກ້ (lo) (kǣ), ຖືກ (thư̄k)
• Latin: correctus
• Latvian: pareizs
• Lithuanian: teisingas
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: правилен (pravilen), верен (veren)
• Malay: benar, betul (ms)
• Maori: tika (mi)
• Miyako: マツム (matumu)
• Moksha: виде (viďe)
• Norwegian: riktig (no)
• Occitan: corrècte (oc), condrech (oc)
• Old English: riht
• Pashto: ټيک (ps)
• Persian: درست (fa) (dorost)
• Plautdietsch: rajcht
• Polish: prawidłowy (pl), właściwy (pl), poprawny (pl)
• Portuguese: correto (pt), certo (pt)
• Quechua: chanin
• Rapa Nui: titika
• Romanian: corect (ro)
• Russian: пра́вильный (ru) (právilʹnyj), ве́рный (ru) (vérnyj), корре́ктный (ru) (korréktnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: исправан

  Roman: ispravan (sh)

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: správny
• Slovene: pravilen
• Spanish: correcto (es)
• Sundanese: leres
• Swedish: korrekt (sv), riktig (sv), rätt (sv), felfri (sv)
• Tagalog: tama
• Tajik: дуруст (tg) (durust)
• Tetum: loos
• Thai: ถูก (th) (tùuk)
• Turkish: doğru (tr)
• Turkmen: dogry, dürs
• Ukrainian: пра́вильний (uk) (právylʹnyj), коре́ктний (koréktnyj)
• Urdu: صحیح (sahīh), ٹھیک (ur) (ṭhīk)
• Uzbek: toʻgʻri (uz)
• Vietnamese: đúng (vi)
• Volapük: verätik (vo)
• Welsh: cywir (cy)
• Yiddish: ריכטיק (rikhtik)
• Zealandic: juust, sjuust, goed
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

with good manners

• Armenian: կոռեկտ (hy) (koṙekt)
• Bulgarian: възпи́тан (vǎzpítan), коре́ктен (bg) (korékten)
• Czech: slušný (cs), korektní
• Dutch: correct (nl), welgemanierd (nl), welopgevoed (nl), goedgemanierd
• Finnish: korrekti (fi), asiallinen (fi)
• Galician: correcto (gl)
• German: einwandfrei (de), ordnungsgemäß (de), zutreffend (de)
• Greek: σωστός (el) (sostós)
• Hungarian: illő (hu), korrekt (hu)
• Italian: corretto (it), ineccepibile (it)
• Maori: tika (mi)
• Portuguese: comportado (pt), educado (pt)
• Romanian: corect (ro)
• Russian: воспи́танный (ru) (vospítannyj), корре́ктный (ru) (korréktnyj)
• Swedish: korrekt (sv)
• Tagalog: wasto
• Ukrainian: ви́хований (výxovanyj), ґре́чний (uk) (gréčnyj), коре́ктний (koréktnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} korekta (io)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} správny
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} pravilni

Interjection

correct

1. Used to indicate acknowledgement or acceptance.

   Synonym: OK

Noun

correct (plural corrects)

1. A correct response.
   • 2013, Julie Vargas, Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching:

     Having each day's rates of corrects and incorrects written next to the graph also makes it easier for you to check the […] If you also have students count problems incorrect, calling them “not yets,” or “learning opportunities,” or […]

Etymology 2

From Middle English correcten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman correcter, from Latin correctus.

Verb

correct (third-person singular simple present corrects, present participle correcting, simple past and past participle corrected)

1. (transitive) To make something that was wrong become right; to remove error from.

   You'll need to correct your posture if you're going to be a professional dancer.

   The navigator corrected the course of the ship.

   • 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 27:

     Her millions of adoring fans had yet to hear her speak, and when she finally did, she sounded more like a sailor than a starlet, spewing a profanity-laced, G-dropping Brooklynese that no amount of dialect coaching could correct.

2. (by extension, transitive) To grade (examination papers).

   The teacher stayed up all night correcting exams.

3. (transitive) To inform (someone) of their error.

   It's rude to correct your parents.

4. (transitive) To discipline; to punish.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:repair

Derived terms

Terms derived from correct (verb)

• correctable
• correcting fluid
• correction
• correct me if I'm wrong
• course-correct
• error correct
• politically correct
• self-correct
• self-correcting
• uncorrectable

 

Translations

to make something become right that was previously wrong

• Arabic: صَحَّحَ (ṣaḥḥaḥa)
• Armenian: ուղղել (hy) (uġġel)
• Azerbaijani: düzəltmək (az), islah etmək
• Basque: zuzendu
• Bulgarian: поправям (bg) (popravjam), кориги́рам (bg) (korigíram)
• Catalan: corregir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 修正 (zh) (xiūzhèng), 改正 (zh) (gǎizhèng), 糾正／纠正 (zh) (jiūzhèng)

• Czech: opravit (cs)
• Dutch: corrigeren (nl), verbeteren (nl)
• Esperanto: korekti
• Faroese: rætta
• Finnish: korjata (fi), oikaista (fi)
• French: corriger (fr)
• Galician: correxir
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: ausbessern (de), korrigieren (de), richtigstellen (de), berichtigen (de), nachregeln Tech.
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (garaihtjan)
• Greek: διορθώνω (el) (diorthóno)
• Hebrew: תיקן (he) (tikén)
• Hindi: सही करना (sahī karnā)
• Hungarian: kijavít (hu), helyesbít (hu), korrigál (hu)
• Icelandic: leiðrétta (is)
• Irish: beachtaigh, ceartaigh
• Italian: correggere (it), emendare (it), rettificare (it)
• Japanese: 正す (ja) (tadasu), 直す (ja) (naosu), 修正する (ja) (shūsei-suru), 是正する (ja) (zesei-suru), 訂正する (ja) (teisei-suru)
• Khmer: កែ (km) (kae)
• Korean: 교정하다 (ko) (gyojeonghada)
• Ladino: korijar
• Latin: corrigō, ēmendō (la)
• Malay: benarkan, betulkan
• Maori: tītere (someone's speech), whakatika
• Mongolian: засах (mn) (zasax)
• Old English: ġerihtan
• Oromo: sirreessuu
• Ottoman Turkish: طوغریلامق (doğrulamak)
• Polish: poprawiać (pl) impf, poprawić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: corrigir (pt)
• Quechua: allichiy
• Romanian: corecta (ro)
• Russian: исправля́ть (ru) impf (ispravljátʹ), испра́вить (ru) pf (isprávitʹ), корректи́ровать (ru) (korrektírovatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuir ceart, (e.g. teacher) comharraich
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: поправити

  Roman: popraviti (sh)

• Slovak: opraviť
• Slovene: popraviti
• Spanish: corregir (es)
• Swedish: rätta (sv), korrigera (sv)
• Thai: แก้ไข (th) (gɛ̂ɛ-kǎi)
• Tibetan: ནོར་བཅོས་བྱེད (nor bcos byed), དག་བཅོས་བྱེད (dag bcos byed)
• Turkish: düzeltmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: виправля́ти (vypravljáty), ви́правити pf (výpravyty), коригува́ти impf (koryhuváty), скоригува́ти pf (skoryhuváty)
• Vietnamese: sửa (vi), chữa (vi), sửa chữa (vi)
• Walloon: coridjî (wa), ricoridjî (wa)
• Welsh: cywiro (cy)

to inform someone of their error

• Italian: correggere (it), precisare (it), puntualizzare (it)
• Maori: tītere
• Old English: þrafian
• Ottoman Turkish: طوغریلامق (doğrulamak)
• Tibetan: སྐྱོན་སེལ་ཞུ (skyon sel zhu)

Further reading

• “correct”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “correct”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “correct”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French correct, from Latin corrēctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔˈrɛkt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cor‧rect
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Adjective

correct (comparative correcter, superlative correctst)

1. correct

Inflection

Inflection of correct
uninflected	correct
inflected	correcte
comparative	correcter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		correct	correcter	het correctst het correctste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	correcte	correctere	correctste
	n. sing.	correct	correcter	correctste
	plural	correcte	correctere	correctste
definite		correcte	correctere	correctste
partitive		corrects	correcters	—

Synonyms

• juist

Derived terms

• correctheid
• incorrect

Descendants

• → Indonesian: korèk
• → Papiamentu: korèkt

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin correctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.ʁɛkt/, /ko.ʁɛkt/
• (Quebec, informal) IPA^(key): /kɔ.ʁɛk/

Adjective

correct (feminine correcte, masculine plural corrects, feminine plural correctes)

1. correct, right

   Votre réponse est correcte. ― Your answer is correct.

2. (colloquial) passable, okay

   Le restaurant auquel nous sommes allés était correct, sans plus. ― The restaurant we went to was okay, but nothing more.

3. (Quebec, colloquial) OK, fine, alright

   J’suis tellement désolé! T’es correct? ― I'm so sorry! You OK?

   Ouais, c’est correct. ― Yeah, it's fine.

Derived terms

• correctement
• politiquement correct

Related terms

• correctif
• correction
• corriger
• incorrect
• incorrectement

Further reading

• “correct”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.