in the wrong place at the wrong time
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Experiencing bad luck or unfortunate circumstances
Literally: physically present where and when something undesirable happens
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught in the crossfire
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “in the wrong place at the wrong time” mean?
Experiencing bad luck or unfortunate circumstances Literally: physically present where and when something undesirable happens
Is “in the wrong place at the wrong time” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.