bad-mouth
verb (used with object)
to speak critically and often disloyally of; disparage.
bad-mouth
American
[bad-mouth, -mouth]
/ ˈbædˌmaʊθ, -ˌmaʊð /
Or
badmouth
verb (used with object)
bad-mouthed,
bad-mouthing
bad-mouth
British
verb
bad mouth
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bad-mouth
1935–40; originally a curse, spell (the sense recorded in Gullah); compare Vai (Mande language of Liberia and Sierra Leone) dà nyà mà curse, literally, bad mouth
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.
See Examples For:
But the moment other people started to bad-mouth Gritty, talking about how terrifying, creepy, and—dare I say—weird the Flyers’ orange, googly-eyed mascot was, we changed our tune and fast.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2024
And while you don’t want to bad-mouth your current employer in interviews, you are free to explain to your boss, and anyone else at your employer who will listen, exactly what drove you out.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2023
Trying to get Pete Carroll to bad-mouth a former player of his is like trying to get an Auburn fan to yell “Roll Tide!”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 24, 2023
Macchio also made the decision to never bad-mouth the Karate Kid films, even if he was frustrated with the direction his career had taken.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2022
Pa said, “I advise caution, Leroy. I ain’t trying to bad-mouth no one, but how much we really know ’bout Zephariah?
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
“I don’t want to bad mouth him but he wanted to keep managing. He just couldn’t accept not being there. That’s just the way it was.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2025
"It's never a good idea to post publicly about your break-up, to bad mouth them," William says.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2023
I’m sure they’ll bad mouth me either way, but then I won’t care.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2017
Djokovic, for his part, refused to bad mouth the fans, which according to reports, also booed and jeered him during the three-hour, 20-minute match.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 14, 2015
They’d put the bad mouth on their aunt’s first American day; you had to sweeten their noisy barbarous mouths.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
She also alleged that employees of the agency bad-mouthed NewJeans on internal communication app and asked a journalist to downplay the group's record sales in one article.
From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2024
At the time, people bad-mouthed her for missing performances.
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2022
On “The Howard Stern Show,” Chase said he later discovered that another “SNL” cast member, John Belushi, had bad-mouthed him to Murray before the encounter, laying the groundwork for their backstage brawl.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2022
Some of the detectives also contended Crenshaw pushed subordinates he didn’t like out of his unit and often bad-mouthed and pressured those who took vacation, sick leave or training days, detectives claimed.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2021
Realizing that he was up against two big, competent mice who would stand no nonsense, he became abusive and bad-mouthed.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Your boss may be bad-mouthing you to others.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 28, 2026
District Judge Beryl Howell tore into Giuliani on Friday for violating a permanent injunction against bad-mouthing Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two women who successfully sued the former New York City mayor for defamation.
From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2025
“Nobody wants to be in a position where we’re bad-mouthing one Black woman about another Black woman. That doesn’t feel right to our values.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2023
Referring to the audit, it added: "The FFF nevertheless notes that the report is based less on objective facts than on comments that have sometimes led to exaggerated bad-mouthing of the body."
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2023
I mean, I can’t imagine any Decker who would spend precious time praising or bad-mouthing the foundation.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
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.
