correctness
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cor·rect
(kə-rĕkt′)These verbs mean to make right what is wrong. Correct refers to eliminating faults, errors, or defects: I corrected the spelling mistakes. The new design corrected the flaws in the earlier version.
Rectify stresses the idea of bringing something into conformity with a standard of what is right: "It is dishonest to claim that we can rectify racial injustice without immediate cost" (Mari J. Matsuda).
Remedy involves removing or counteracting something considered a cause of harm, damage, or discontent: He took courses to remedy his abysmal ignorance.
Redress refers to setting right something considered immoral or unethical and usually involves some kind of recompense: "They said he had done very little to redress the abuses that the army had committed against the civilian population" (Daniel Wilkinson).
Revise suggests change that results from careful reconsideration: The agency revised its safety recommendations in view of the new findings.
Amend implies improvement through alteration or correction: "Whenever [the people] shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it" (Abraham Lincoln).
Correctness
See Also: TRUENESS/FALSENESS, MANNERS, REPUTATION
- Accurate as a hole in one —Anon
See Also: GOLF
- Accurately as a geometrician —V. S. Pritchett
- As scrupulous as a well-trained tailor —Robert Penn Warren
- Exact as a blueprint —Anon
- Exact as the technical jargon of a trade —Aldous Huxley
- More exacting than a pasha with thirty wives —Guy de Maupassant
- Proper as a butler —Charles Simmons
- Respectable as Jane Austen —Marge Piercy
- Right as a well-done sum —Sylvia Plath
Correctness
(See also PRECISION, PROPRIETY.)
get hold of the right end of the stick To have the proper grasp or perspective on a situation. The expression is more common in Britain than in the United States. See also get hold of the wrong end of the Stick, FALLACIOUSNESS.
hit the white To be right, to be right on target, to hit the bull’s-eye. The allusion is to archery and the inner circle of the target or the bull’s-eye, formerly of a white color. Since bull’s-eyes are now usually painted or outlined in black, it is easy to see why this expression is rare or obsolete today.
’Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white. (Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, V, ii)
on the beam On the right track; correct; accurate. The reference is to a radio beam used to direct the course of an aircraft. Thus, an airplane on the beam is right on the proper course. The phrase appeared as early as 1941 in the Daring Detective.
right as a trivet See GOOD HEALTH.
right as rain Very right, exactly correct or accurate, quite right. This simile, although not as common today as formerly, is still popularly used to emphasize degree of correctness. Its origin would appear to be simply from alliteration.
Noun | 1. | correctness - conformity to fact or truth quality - an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone; "the quality of mercy is not strained"--Shakespeare incorrectness, wrongness - the quality of not conforming to fact or truth |
2. | correctness - the quality of conformity to social expectations faultlessness, impeccability - the quality of being without an error or fault political correctitude, political correctness - avoidance of expressions or actions that can be perceived to exclude or marginalize or insult people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against incorrectness - lack of conformity to social expectations |