Wrongful means unjust and unlawful. Wrongful dismissal, wrongful arrest, wrongful conviction.
It is a legal word and always attaches to an act by an authority or an employer: wrongful dismissal is a breach of contract, and wrongful arrest and wrongful conviction are what compensation claims are built on. It is not used of ordinary bad behaviour. Note wrongfully; and the distinction from unfair dismissal, which is a separate and statutory claim in British employment law.
1adjectivewrongfulUnjust and unlawful.
“He won compensation after his wrongful arrest at the airport.”
wrongful is a quality of injustice.
Middle English wrongful is wrong plus -ful, and wrong came from Old Norse rangr, crooked. Something wrong is something twisted out of true.
Middle English
wrongful
English, today
wrongful
From Middle English wrongful, equivalent to wrong + -ful.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA