Wronging

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Causing harm or injustice to another person through unfair actions or treatment
2. Treating someone improperly by violating their rights or doing them a disservice
3. Behaving in a way that harms someone else by depriving them of what is rightfully theirs

Etymology: The verb "wrong" has a physical past: its Old English ancestor "wrang" meant "twisted" or "uneven" before it ever meant "mistaken" or "unjust." It came into English from Old Norse "rangr" and "vrangr," meaning "crooked," and both trace back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning "crooked, twisted, turned awry." That root connects to an Indo-European idea of twisting, weaving, or tying together, which is also the source of the English verb "wring." So the moral sense of wrong grew out of the image of something bent out of its proper shape. The Old Norse connection is what made the word stick in English. Norse speakers settled large parts of northern and eastern England, and their vocabulary blended into the local dialects, which is why "wrang" and its relatives appear in both the Scandinavian and English branches of the family. The same root gives the Dutch "wrang," meaning "bitter" or "sour," and Scots "wrang," meaning "wrong." Words like "wronging," the present participle of the verb, carry the old twist forward: to wrong someone is to bend them out of fair treatment.

Synonyms: mistreating, injuring, offending, harming, disrespecting

Antonyms: respecting, honoring, helping, aiding, supporting