get/start off on the right/wrong foot

To have a positive or favorable start. In an effort to get off on the right foot this semester, I've already begun to research for my thesis.

To have a bad start. Said of something that goes or has gone awry at the very beginning. I know we got off on the wrong foot when I was a half hour late to the interview, but I promise that I will always be on time once I start working here.

To have a positive or favorable start. In an effort to start off on the right foot this semester, I've already begun to research for my thesis.

To have a bad start. Said of something that goes or has gone awry at the very beginning. I know we started off on the wrong foot when I was a half hour late to the interview, but I promise that I will always be on time once I start working here.

Fig. to begin things incorrectly. (As if one were beginning to march and began on the right rather than the left foot.) Give me some advice. I don't want to start off on the wrong foot. Tim stepped off on the wrong foot in his new job.

see under on the right foot.

If you get off on the wrong foot, you start a relationship or an activity badly. We got off on the wrong foot the first time I met him. Note: You can also say that you start off on the wrong foot. Their relationship had started off on the wrong foot, but the bond between Packer and Singleton grew stronger over time. Note: You can also say that something gets people or activities off on the wrong foot or starts them off on the wrong foot. Most of the farming people had some trouble with English pronouns (hi in Welsh is she in English, which starts them off on the wrong foot). Note: The `wrong foot' refers to the left foot. There is an ancient superstition that the left side of the body is connected with bad luck and evil. The Romans sometimes placed guards at the entrances to public buildings to ensure that people entered them with their right foot first. `Get out of bed on the wrong side' is based on a similar belief. Compare with be caught on the wrong foot. Compare with start off on the right foot.

If you start off on the right foot or get off on the right foot, you immediately have success when you begin an activity or a relationship. Share your feelings, both positive and negative. If you decide to go ahead, you will be starting off on the right foot. In order to get off on the right foot, he presented her with a couple of expensive front-row tickets for the show. Compare with be caught on the wrong foot. Compare with get off on the wrong foot.