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View synonyms for badly

badly

[ bad-lee ]

adverb

, worse, worst.
  1. in a defective, incorrect, or undesirable way:

    The car runs badly.

  2. in an unsatisfactory, inadequate, or unskilled manner:

    a vague, badly written letter; He paints badly.

  3. unfavorably:

    His neighbors spoke badly of him. The weather turned out badly for the cruise.

  4. in a wicked, evil, or morally or legally wrong way.
  5. in a disobedient, naughty, or ethically or socially wrong way:

    He treats his parents badly.

  6. very much; to a great extent or degree:

    a house badly in need of repair; to want something badly.

  7. severely; direly:

    to be injured badly.

  8. with great distress, resentment, regret, or emotional display:

    She took the news of her mother's death badly.



adjective

  1. in ill health; sick:

    He felt badly.

  2. I feel badly about your reaction to my remark.

badly

/ ˈbædlɪ /

adverb

  1. poorly; defectively; inadequately

    the chair is badly made

  2. unfavourably; unsuccessfully; unfortunately

    our scheme worked out badly

  3. severely; gravely

    he was badly hurt

  4. incorrectly or inaccurately

    to speak German badly

  5. improperly; naughtily; wickedly

    to behave badly

  6. without humanity; cruelly

    to treat someone badly

  7. very much (esp in the phrases need badly , badly in need of , want badly )
  8. regretfully

    he felt badly about it

  9. badly off
    poor; impoverished
“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


adjective

  1. dialect.
    postpositive ill; poorly
“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
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Usage Note

In the sense “very much,” badly is fully standard: He needs help badly. bad 1.
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Word History and Origins

Origin of badly1

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English baddeli, baddeliche, badli(che) “wickedly, evilly, poorly”; bad 1, -ly
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Idioms and Phrases

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Example Sentences

“If you ticket individuals with other sorts of mechanisms, then you could start to get it from the supply side and ensure if businesses are behaving badly it falls on everyone who participates,” he said.

The Chiefs hurt themselves badly with mistakes, including a key drop from tight end Travis Kelce on a third down.

All his life doing whatever he could to serve others gladly, to make their lives go less badly.

Meanwhile, Doncic hasn’t quite lived up to sky-high expectations, and his sidekick, Kristaps Porzingis, has struggled badly since he returned from October knee surgery.

Fucso has gone back to the gym she missed badly and uses the treadmill and weights.

The rage that Marvin has embodied, a man on the edge of eruption, is always a badly wounded man.

All of us can readily conjure up horror scenarios by the isolated person acting badly.

He then saw two badly wounded uniformed officers in the front of a radio car.

Kurnosova badly wants the change to take place democratically.

On her first entrance, Hitchcock says, “She looks old, they've shot her badly.”

Still, gambling seemed to be made particularly fascinating here, and he wanted to be fascinated, wanted it badly.

The evening was cold and raw and so dark that it was almost impossible to distinguish people on the badly lighted little platform.

All badly insert pure (dissyllabic) before flat; but smothe has two syllables.

All were badly and insufficiently fed, as much from disorganized commissariat arrangements as from actual want of supplies.

A country parish clerk, being asked how the inscriptions on the tombs in the church-yard were so badly spelled?

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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.

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