dead to rights

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

dead to rights

Where it comes from

US, 1854, originally New York City criminal slang, thence entered general use. dead (“completely, utterly”) + to rights (“properly”).

adverb

US, idiomatic, not comparable With sufficient evidence to establish responsibility definitively. have someone dead to rights on something
Similar: bang to rights, red-handed, blameworthily, compunctiously, dead to rights, guiltylike, guiltily, nocently, red-handedly

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"dead to rights." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/dead%20to%20rights. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

dead to rights. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/dead%20to%20rights

Chicago

"dead to rights." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/dead%20to%20rights.

BibTeX

@misc{dead_to_rights_2026,
  title = {dead to rights},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/dead%20to%20rights},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}