awry
adverb or adjective
Synonyms
Examples of awry in a Sentence
In his 1942 story "Runaround," Isaac Asimov offered his now-famous Three Laws of Robotics: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; a robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Most of Asimov's stories deal with things going awry because these laws don't equip robots to tackle real-world situations.
—
Robert J. Sawyer, Science, 16 Nov. 2007
Beer is made up of a complex concoction of substances that stretch well beyond simply that of water and ethanol. There is ample opportunity, then, for things to go awry in the beer-making process.
—David Filmore, Today's Chemist at Work, January 2002
If you forget to sign your return, speckle it with correction fluid, or assemble the pages in the wrong order, the agent may take a much closer look to see if anything else is awry.
—Janine S. Pouliot, Parenting, April 1997
I was proud of my schoolteacher father. If his suit was out of press, and his necktie knotted awry, I was too new to the world to notice.
—John Updike, New Yorker, 10 Mar. 1997
their plans for an outdoor wedding went awry when they got a freak hailstorm the night before
the shutters that still remained on the run-down old house were all awry
Robert J. Sawyer, Science, 16 Nov. 2007
Beer is made up of a complex concoction of substances that stretch well beyond simply that of water and ethanol. There is ample opportunity, then, for things to go awry in the beer-making process.
—David Filmore, Today's Chemist at Work, January 2002
If you forget to sign your return, speckle it with correction fluid, or assemble the pages in the wrong order, the agent may take a much closer look to see if anything else is awry.
—Janine S. Pouliot, Parenting, April 1997
I was proud of my schoolteacher father. If his suit was out of press, and his necktie knotted awry, I was too new to the world to notice.
—John Updike, New Yorker, 10 Mar. 1997
their plans for an outdoor wedding went awry when they got a freak hailstorm the night before
the shutters that still remained on the run-down old house were all awry
Recent Examples on the Web
Watch Cannon explain how his Mother’s Day plan went awry below.
—Glenn Rowley, Billboard, 16 May 2023
Following a romantic picnic outing between Mickey and Minnie that goes awry, guests are jolted from roving green hills to a cragged canyon to a waterfall and beyond, which appear seamlessly on walls and animatronics in poppy, cartoon style.
—Charles Trepany, USA TODAY, 27 Jan. 2023
For any excess smudging, makeup artist Judi Gabbay recommends using micellar water to clean up the edges and smudge out the liner — a tip Hui also used in her video after washing off her eyeliner goes awry.
—Annie Blay, Allure, 18 Jan. 2023
And the results may ultimately inform situations in which motherhood goes awry because of depression or psychosis, potentially leading to new diagnostics.
—Ingrid Wickelgren, Scientific American, 23 Nov. 2022
See all Example Sentences for awry 
Glenn Rowley, Billboard, 16 May 2023
Following a romantic picnic outing between Mickey and Minnie that goes awry, guests are jolted from roving green hills to a cragged canyon to a waterfall and beyond, which appear seamlessly on walls and animatronics in poppy, cartoon style.
—Charles Trepany, USA TODAY, 27 Jan. 2023
For any excess smudging, makeup artist Judi Gabbay recommends using micellar water to clean up the edges and smudge out the liner — a tip Hui also used in her video after washing off her eyeliner goes awry.
—Annie Blay, Allure, 18 Jan. 2023
And the results may ultimately inform situations in which motherhood goes awry because of depression or psychosis, potentially leading to new diagnostics.
—Ingrid Wickelgren, Scientific American, 23 Nov. 2022
See all Example Sentences for awry
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'awry.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Awry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awry. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.
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