Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

bark up the wrong tree

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.80 in modern English

Syllables: bark up the wrong tree
IPA

33

Scrabble Score

18

Letters

1

Syllables

13

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To take the wrong approach to a situation; to follow a false lead; to attempt to solve a problem using mistaken assumptions about its true nature.

Example Sentences

"The investigator spent days trying to prove the butler committed the murder, but it turns out he was barking up the wrong tree."
"You're not the first man who has made such a mistake, and found he was barking up the wrong tree."
"They all went into the house, and left me feeling a precious idiot. I had been barking up the wrong tree this time."
""We want West. He's a cowardly murderer—killed the man who trusted him." . . . "Of course we may be barking up the wrong tree," the officer reflected aloud. "Maybe West isn't within five hundred miles of here.""
"After three failed marriages I realised that I may have been barking up the wrong tree and should abandon the search for the perfect wife."

Etymology

An allusion to a situation in which a hunting dog misidentifies the tree up which it has chased an animal and positions itself at the base of another tree, barking upward at the branches.

Inflected Forms

barks up the wrong tree (present, singular) barking up the wrong tree (participle, present) barked up the wrong tree (participle, past) barked up the wrong tree (past)

Questions

What does bark up the wrong tree mean?: To take the wrong approach to a situation; to follow a false lead; to attempt to solve a problem using mistaken assumptions about its true nature.
Where does bark up the wrong tree come from?: An allusion to a situation in which a hunting dog misidentifies the tree up which it has chased an animal and positions itself at the base of another tree, barking upward at the branches.

How to pronounce bark up the wrong tree

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