correct Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb make right or correct
    right; rectify.
    • Correct the mistakes
    • rectify the calculation
  2. verb make reparations or amends for
    compensate; right; redress.
    • right a wrongs done to the victims of the Holocaust
  3. verb censure severely
    objurgate; chastise; chasten; castigate.
    • She chastised him for his insensitive remarks
  4. verb adjust for
    even off; make up; compensate; counterbalance; even out; even up.
    • engineers will work to correct the effects or air resistance
  5. verb punish in order to gain control or enforce obedience
    discipline; sort out.
    • The teacher disciplined the pupils rather frequently
  6. verb go down in value
    decline; slump.
    • the stock market corrected
    • prices slumped
  7. verb alter or regulate so as to achieve accuracy or conform to a standard
    adjust; set.
    • Adjust the clock, please
    • correct the alignment of the front wheels
  8. verb treat a defect
    • The new contact lenses will correct for his myopia
  9. adjective free from error; especially conforming to fact or truth
    right.
    • the correct answer
    • the correct version
    • the right answer
    • took the right road
    • the right decision
  10. adjective satellite socially right or correct
    right.
    • it isn't right to leave the party without saying goodbye
    • correct behavior
  11. adjective satellite in accord with accepted standards of usage or procedure
    right.
    • what's the right word for this?
    • the right way to open oysters
  12. adjective correct in opinion or judgment
    right.
    • time proved him right

WordNet

Cor*rect" adjective
Etymology
L. correctus, p. p. of corrigere to make straight, to correct; cor- + regere to lead straight: cf. F. correct. See Regular, Right, and cf. Escort.
Definitions
  1. Set right, or made straight; hence, conformable to truth, rectitude, or propriety, or to a just standard; nnot faulty or imperfect; free from error; as, correct behavior; correct views.
    Always use the most correct editions. Felton.
    Syn. -- Accurate; right, exact; precise; regular; faultless. See Accurate.
Cor*rect" transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Corrected; present participle & verbal noun Correcting
Definitions
  1. To make right; to bring to the standard of truth, justice, or propriety; to rectify; as, to correct manners or principles.
    This is a defect in the first make of same men's minds which can scarce ever be corrected afterwards. T. Burnet.
  2. To remove or retrench the faults or errors of; to amend; to set right; as, to correct the proof (that is, to mark upon the margin the changes to be made, or to make in the type the changes so marked).
  3. To bring back, or attempt to bring back, to propriety in morals; to reprove or punish for faults or deviations from moral rectitude; to chastise; to discipline; as, a child should be corrected for lying.
    My accuser is my 'prentice; and when I did correct him for his fault the other day, he did vow upon his knees he would be even with me. Shak.
  4. To counteract the qualities of one thing by those of another; -- said of whatever is wrong or injurious; as, to correct the acidity of the stomach by alkaline preparations. Syn. -- To amend; rectify; emend; reform; improve; chastise; punish; discipline; chasten. See Amend.

Webster 1913