aright

See also a'right

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /əˈɹʌɪt/
• (US) IPA: /əˈɹaɪt/, X-SAMPA: /@"r\aIt/
• Rhymes: -aɪt

Etymology 1

From Middle English ariȝt, ariht, from Old English āriht (“aright, properly”), from earlier *an riht, on riht (“rightly”), corresponding to a (prep.) +‎ right.

Adverb

aright (comparative more aright, superlative most aright)

1. Rightly, correctly; in the right way or form.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.56:

     it is not easie we should so often settle our minds in so regular, so reformed, and so devout a seat, where indeed it ought to be, to pray aright and effectually: otherwise our praiers are not only vaine and unprofitable, but vicious.

Etymology 2

From Middle English arighten, arihten (“to raise up”); and Middle English iriȝten, irihten, ȝerihten (“to make right, correct, erect”), from Old English ġerihtan (“to set right”), equivalent to a- +‎ right.

Verb

aright (third-person singular simple present arights, present participle arighting, simple past and past participle arighted)

1. (transitive) To make right; put right; arrange or treat properly.
   • 2003, John Beebe, Terror, Violence, and the Impulse to Destroy:

     But, from working with those who have felt exiled and damned, excoriated and benumbed, and yet have made it back to useful and creative life again, I know there are more sure, albeit intense, ways to aright oneself.

Related terms

• eright

References

• aright in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913