phrasal verb · neutral
go astray
UK/ɡəʊ əˈstreɪ/US/ɡoʊ əˈstreɪ/GO·a·STRAY
speakingtask2
to become lost or not reach the correct place; to go wrong or be misinterpreted
Examples
“Some letters went astray in the post and arrived weeks late.”
“If the message goes astray, people might misunderstand our intentions.”
“Many development projects go astray when initial goals are unclear.”
Band 8 sentence
“Important documents often go astray during office moves unless everything is carefully logged.”
Collocations
- go astray + letters/messages/shipments
- go astray + plans/ideas
Word family
go astray phrasal verbwent astray phrasal verb (past)
Common mistakes
The parcel was astray in the post.→The parcel went astray in the post.
The message went away.→The message went astray.
Say it for a higher band
5get lost→6go wrong→7+go astray
Synonyms
get lost
go wrong
Easily confused
go wrong
“Things went wrong when the funding stopped.”
Related words
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In go …
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