downright
/ˈdaʊnɹaɪt/
"downright" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“downright” has 15 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #17,600. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #17,600
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 15
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Completely, wholly.
Corpus desk
Index EN-downright · downright · English
downright · rank #17,600 · 15 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-MID #17,600
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-HIGH 15 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH Donnie
Nearest frequency peer: Donnie (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “downright”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- divergent
divergent
82,405 corpus weight
- doctorate
doctorate
82,404 corpus weight
- Doncaster
Doncaster
82,403 corpus weight
- Donnie
Donnie
82,402 corpus weight
- downright
downright
82,401 corpus weight
- dues
dues
82,400 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “downright” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | downright |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /ˈdaʊnɹaɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #17,600 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “downright” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 15 spelling variants around downright (IPA /ˈdaʊnɹaɪt/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #17,600 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for downright, with forms such as "ddownright", "donwright", and "downirght". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: The adverb is derived from Middle English dounright, dounriȝt (“right down, straight down; face down; vertically; used for emphasis: outright, downright”), and then either: * possibly an aphetic form of adounright (“straight down; directly, immediately (?)”… The correct English form is downright, spelled D-O-W-N-R-I-G-H-T.
Definition
- 1Completely, wholly.
- 2Of acts or speech: directly and unambiguously; clearly, plainly.
- 3Straight down; perpendicularly.
- 4Immediately at that place and time; without delay; altogether, at once, then and there.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how downright appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He wasn’t just cool to me, he was downright rude.
VVe vvere deſcried, theyle mock vs novv dounright.
Etymology
The adverb is derived from Middle English dounright, dounriȝt (“right down, straight down; face down; vertically; used for emphasis: outright, downright”), and then either: * possibly an aphetic form of adounright (“straight down; directly, immediately (?)”), from adoun (“downward”, adverb) (from Old English adūn, adūne (“down, downward”, adverb), ultimately from dūn (“hill, mountain”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūnā, *dūnu (“hill; sand dune”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“haze, mist; smoke”)) + right (“direct; straight; etc.”, adjective) (from Old English riht (“straight; etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten”)); or * from doun (“down, downward; etc.”, adverb) (from Old English dūne (“down”), ultimately from dūn (“hill, mountain”): see above) + right. By surface analysis, down (adverb) + right (adjective). The adjective and noun are derived from the adverb. Noun noun sense 1 (“low grade of wool”) may be from the obsolete adjective adjective sense 2.2 (“in its most basic form; ordinary”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddownright
- donwright
- downirght
- downnright
- downrgiht
- downrigght
- downrighht
- downrightt
- downrigth
- downrihgt
- downrright
- dowrnight
- dowwnright
- dwonright
- odwnright
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of downright - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "downright", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "downright". Here's where to go from here.
- 15 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #17,600 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.