bad
1not good in any manner or degree.
having a wicked or evil character; morally reprehensible: There is no such thing as a bad boy.
of poor or inferior quality; defective; deficient: a bad diamond; a bad spark plug.
inadequate or below standard; not satisfactory for use: bad heating; Living conditions in some areas are very bad.
inaccurate, incorrect, or faulty: a bad guess.
invalid, unsound, or false: a bad insurance claim; bad judgment.
causing or liable to cause sickness or ill health; injurious or harmful: Too much sugar is bad for your teeth.
suffering from sickness, ill health, pain, or injury; sick; ill: He felt bad from eating the green apples.
not healthy or in good physical condition; diseased, decayed, or physically weakened: A bad heart kept him out of the army.
tainted, spoiled, or rotten, especially to the point of being inedible: The meat is bad because you left it out of the refrigerator too long.
having a disastrous or detrimental effect, result, or tendency; unfavorable: The drought is bad for the farmers. His sloppy appearance made a bad impression.
causing or characterized by discomfort, inconvenience, uneasiness, or annoyance; disagreeable; unpleasant: I had a bad flight to Chicago.
easily provoked to anger; irascible: a bad temper.
cross, irritable, or surly: If I don't have my morning coffee, I'm in a bad mood all day.
more uncomfortable, persistent, painful, or dangerous than usual; severe: a bad attack of asthma.
causing or resulting in disaster or severe damage or destruction: a bad flood.
regretful, contrite, dejected, or upset: He felt bad about having to leave the children all alone.
disobedient, naughty, or misbehaving: If you're bad at school, you'll go to bed without supper.
disreputable or dishonorable: He's getting a bad name from changing jobs so often.
displaying a lack of skill, talent, proficiency, or judgment: a bad painting; Bad drivers cause most of the accidents.
causing distress; unfortunate or unfavorable: I'm afraid I have bad news for you.
not suitable or appropriate; disadvantageous or dangerous: It was a bad day for fishing.
inclement; considered too stormy, hot, cold, etc.: We had a bad winter with a lot of snow.
disagreeable or offensive to the senses: a bad odor.
exhibiting a lack of artistic sensitivity: The room was decorated in bad taste.
not in keeping with a standard of behavior or conduct; coarse: bad manners.
(of a word, speech, or writing)
vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous: bad language.
not properly observing rules or customs of grammar, usage, spelling, etc.; incorrect: He speaks bad English.
unattractive, especially because of a lack of pleasing proportions: She has a bad figure.
(of the complexion) marred by defects; pockmarked or pimply; blemished: bad skin.
not profitable or worth the price paid: The land was a bad buy.
Commerce. deemed uncollectible or irrecoverable and treated as a loss: a bad debt.
ill-spent; wasted: Don't throw good money after bad money.
counterfeit; not genuine: There was a bad ten-dollar bill in with the change.
having the character of a villain; villainous: In the movies the good guys always beat the bad guys.
Sports. failing to land within the in-bounds limits of a court or section of a court; missing the mark; not well aimed.
Slang. outstandingly excellent; first-rate: He's a bad man on drums, and the fans love him.
that which is bad: You have to take the bad with the good.
a bad condition, character, or quality: His health seemed to go from bad to worse.
Usually the bad .(used with a plural verb) evil persons collectively: The bad are always stirring up trouble.
badly: He wanted it bad enough to steal it.
Idioms about bad
bad off, in poor or distressed condition or circumstances; destitute: His family has been pretty bad off since he lost his job.: Also badly off. Compare well-off.
go to the bad, to deteriorate physically or morally; go to ruin: She wept at seeing her son go to the bad.
in a bad way, in severe trouble or distress.
in bad, Informal.
in trouble or distress.
in disfavor: He's in bad with his father-in-law.
my bad, Slang. my fault! my mistake!
not bad, : Also not so bad, not too bad.
tolerably good; not without merit: The dinner wasn't bad, but I've had better.
not difficult: Once you know geometry, trigonometry isn't bad.
too bad, unfortunate or disappointing: It's too bad that he didn't go to college.
to the bad, in arrears: He's $100 to the bad on his debt.
Origin of bad
1usage note For bad
When the adverbial use is required, badly is standard with all verbs: She reacted badly to the criticism. Bad as an adverb appears mainly in informal contexts: I didn't do too bad on the tests. He wants money so bad it hurts. See also badly, good.
word story For bad
Bad off, in standard English now badly off, dates to the first half of the 18th century ( badly off dates to roughly the same time). The colloquialism my bad!, an Americanism, dates from the early 1980s.
Bad in its slang sense “excellent, first-rate” is surprisingly old, first appearing in print in the 1890s. It was then popularized in the 1920s within the jazz scene, and is typically associated with Black English. The slang sense “very tough, formidable” also appeared in the 19th century; it often meant “formidably skilled,” which ties in with the “excellent, first-rate” meaning.
Other words for bad
Other words from bad
- badness, noun
Words Nearby bad
Other definitions for bad (2 of 2)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use bad in a sentence
Finally, even in the worst-case scenario, in which a child does contract Covid-19, the outcomes of the disease are less severe in younger people than among older adults.
I’m an epidemiologist and a dad. Here’s why I think schools should reopen. | Benjamin P. Linas | July 9, 2020 | VoxTo be sure, people basically gambling with money they would be devastated to lose is bad.
In doing so, the app aims to bring more transparency to how social networks moderate hate speech by showing those who report it what is and isn’t deemed bad enough to be removed.
What investors do appear to have is conviction that earnings for the second quarter likely won’t be as bad as expected.
5 theories on why the stock market is up 42% since March—ranked by likelihood | Anne Sraders | July 8, 2020 | FortuneSometimes, much as we hate to admit it, a bad race is simply a bad race.
We need to recover and grow the idea that the proper answer to bad speech is more and better speech.
I gotta say—I think this past year was pretty bad for music.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness | Marlow Stern | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTAss-kicking, bad guy-killing Carter is just a future spinster.
They all immediately dashed out to their car to catch the bad guys.
Terrorism is bad news anywhere, but especially rough on Odessa, where the city motto seems to be “make love, not war.”
The "bad form" of telling a lie to the head-master is a later illustration of the same thing.
Children's Ways | James SullyThe men arrived in very bad condition, and many of them blinded with the salt water which had dashed into their eyes.
Their sin began on Holy Thursday, with so little secrecy and so bad an example, that the affair was beginning to leak out.
Conditions in the new country had gone from bad to worse, and if the season should experience another drought, the worst was come.
The Homesteader | Oscar MicheauxIf any one has lost his temper, as well as his money, he takes good care not to show it; to do so here would be indeed bad form.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James Wills
British Dictionary definitions for bad (1 of 2)
/ (bæd) /
not good; of poor quality; inadequate; inferior: bad workmanship; bad soil; bad light for reading
(often foll by at) lacking skill or talent; incompetent: a bad painter; bad at sports
(often foll by for) harmful: bad air; smoking is bad for you
immoral; evil: a bad life
naughty; mischievous; disobedient: a bad child
rotten; decayed; spoiled: a bad egg
severe; intense: a bad headache
incorrect; wrong; faulty: bad pronunciation
ill or in pain (esp in the phrase feel bad)
regretful, sorry, or upset (esp in the phrase feel bad about)
unfavourable; distressing: bad news; a bad business
offensive; unpleasant; disagreeable: bad language; bad temper
not valid or sound; void: a bad cheque
not recoverable: a bad debt
badder or baddest slang good; excellent
go from bad to worse to deteriorate even more
go bad to putrefy; spoil
in a bad way informal
seriously ill, through sickness or injury
in trouble of any kind
in someone's bad books See book (def. 21)
make the best of a bad job to manage as well as possible in unfavourable circumstances
not bad or not so bad informal passable; fair; fairly good
not half bad informal very good
too bad informal (often used dismissively) regrettable
unfortunate or unpleasant events collectively (often in the phrase take the bad with the good)
an immoral or degenerate state (often in the phrase go to the bad)
the debit side of an account: £200 to the bad
my bad US and Canadian informal my fault or mistake
not standard badly: to want something bad
Origin of bad
1Derived forms of bad
- baddish, adjective
- badness, noun
British Dictionary definitions for bad (2 of 2)
/ (bæd) /
a variant of bade
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with bad
In addition to the idioms beginning with bad
- bad blood
- bad egg
- bad hair day
- bad luck
- badly off
- bad mouth
- bad name
- bad news
- bad off
- bad sort, a
- bad taste
- bad time
- bad trip
also see:
- come to an end (bad end)
- feel bad
- from bad to worse
- get off on the wrong foot (to a bad start)
- give a bad name
- give bad marks to
- go bad
- in a bad mood
- in a bad way
- in bad faith
- in bad with someone
- in someone's bad graces
- leave a bad taste in one's mouth
- make the best of (a bad bargain)
- not a bad sort
- not bad
- poor (bad) taste
- run of (bad) luck
- too bad
- turn up (like a bad penny)
- with bad grace
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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