right [OE] The root meaning of right is movement in a straight line—the first senses were ‘straight, not curved’ and ‘direct, straight to the destination’ as well as ‘morally good, just’ and ‘true, correct’. Right as in the opposite of *left is also Old English, but it is difficult to tell when people referring to a hand, for example, mean ‘correct’ or ‘right-hand’. The political application originated in the French National Assembly of 1789, in which the nobles as a body took the position of honour on the president’s right, and the Third Estate—the French bourgeoisie and working class—sat on his left. See also dexter, rectangle, sinister.