Something went wrong means that a problem, a failure or an unpleasant surprise happened. People say it about a plan, a trip, a device or a process, and it is also a common error message on websites and in apps.
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something went wrong + with + noun; something goes/has gone wrong; what went wrong?
- Something went wrong with our booking, so the hotel had no room for us.
- If something goes wrong during the test, raise your hand and tell the staff.
- We still don't know what went wrong, but the app works again now.
What changed
First versionThe meeting started well, but then something went bad.
RevisionThe meeting started well, but then something went wrong.
Go bad means “become rotten” and is used about food: The milk went bad. When there is a failure or something does not go to plan, the phrase is go wrong, so the correction replaces bad with wrong. To say that an event was unsuccessful, use the adverb: The meeting went badly.
Something went wrong describes an event: the failure has already happened. Something is wrong describes a state: something is not right at the moment, as in Something is wrong with my phone. The question What's wrong? means “What's the matter?” or “What happened?”.
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Sorry, your payment didn't go through: something ___ on our side, so please try again later.
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went wrong — The sentence is about a payment failure: the system did not work as it should, so went wrong is needed. Went bad means “spoiled”, which is said about food, not payments.
Think of a trip, a project or a celebration where something went wrong. Write what exactly went wrong and how you solved the problem.
On our trip to Rome, something went wrong with our hotel booking, so we found a small guesthouse near the station.
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