bad news
Americannoun
noun
-
An unwelcome thing or person, trouble. For example, That fire was bad news; we were underinsured for the damage , or No one wants Mary on the board—she's bad news . This term transfers literal bad news—the report of an unhappy recent event—to an unwanted or undesirable individual or circumstance. [ Slang ; 1920s]
-
The amount charged for something, as in Waiter, bring our check—I want to see the bad news . [ Slang ; 1920s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"There's been a continuous desire to cut down the flow of bad news, to filter it out somehow, not to discuss it with relatives or friends. Perhaps that's where this surge in interest in culture comes from."
From Barron's
Queen Jackson was telling Nila Holcomb, “That boy is just bad news.”
From Literature
The bad news is that the birth rate is not high enough to offset an acute population decline, and Japan is not very open to immigration.
From MarketWatch
“It’s been long and it’s been hard and very difficult at times, but the good news is that the bad news is behind us,” Katzenberg told The Times in 2012.
From Los Angeles Times
International oil prices soon cratered — bad news for his chosen successor, Maduro.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
