feel-bad

[feel-bad]

adjective

Informal.

1. intended to make one feel unhappy, depressed, or dissatisfied, often to arouse one’s conscience or understanding.

   a feel-bad documentary about Nagasaki;

   feel-bad financial reports.

Word History and Origins

Origin of feel bad¹

First recorded in 1980–85; feel ( def. ) + bad ¹ ( def. ) on the model of feel-good ( def. )

Idioms and Phrases

Also, feel bad about. Experience regret, sadness, embarrassment, or a similar unpleasant emotion. For example, I feel bad about not attending the funeral, or The teacher's scolding made Bobby feel bad. [First half of 1800s]

Example Sentences

I'm sure that has contributed to the general atmosphere of doom and gloom that seems to define this feel-bad era.

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But the propulsive snap of Highsmith’s cool, unforgiving intellect is on almost every page; it’s a feel-bad read you can finish in a day.

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One reason is pretty simple: It’s a feel-bad story that complicates the narrative that has grown increasingly central to how we understand the history of how our technology was invented and produced.

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In the end, “Moving On” emerges as a feel-good movie by way of some feel-bad events, mainly that heinous slice of history between Claire and Howard.

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Devoid of explanatory text and almost wordless, this feel-bad documentary takes a soberly immersive approach, with the cinematographer Magda Kowalczyk often using a hand-held camera to approximate a bovine point of view.

Read more on New York Times