Meaning of in the wrong place at the wrong time | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Describing actions or activities that the speaker considers inappropriate, misdirected, or unlikely to yield good results.
   literally
2. At a location or in a situation by where something bad is about to happen at just the time of its occurrence by bad luck.
   idiomatic

Equivalents

Examples

“[The devil] must then chime in with our sentiments, our instincts, even stimulate our devotion to liberty, and defeat liberty by compelling us to seek it in the wrong place, at the wrong time, or by improper means.”

“... W.H. Waring (Dellow) nearly cut short the life of a native of those parts who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and J.W. Cox got his Dellow up at incredible speed, with the front wheels leaping in the air most of the way.”

“It is a perplexing expression, since many of these young people were not in the "wrong place." ... I believe that when they say "I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," they are reflecting on the randomness of violence.”

CEFR level