bastard
Americannoun
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a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.
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Slang.
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a vicious, despicable, or thoroughly disliked person.
Some bastard slashed the tires on my car.
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a person, especially a man.
The poor bastard broke his leg.
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something irregular, inferior, spurious, or unusual.
adjective
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illegitimate in birth.
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spurious; not genuine; false.
The architecture was bastard Gothic.
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of abnormal or irregular shape or size; of unusual make or proportions.
bastard quartz; bastard mahogany.
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having the appearance of; resembling in some degree.
a bastard Michelangelo; bastard emeralds.
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Printing. (of a character) not of the font in which it is used or found.
noun
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informal an obnoxious or despicable person
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informal a person, esp a man
lucky bastard
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informal something extremely difficult or unpleasant
that job is a real bastard
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old-fashioned a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate baby, child, or adult
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something irregular, abnormal, or inferior
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a hybrid, esp an accidental or inferior one
adjective
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old-fashioned illegitimate by birth
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irregular, abnormal, or inferior in shape, size, or appearance
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resembling a specified thing, but not actually being such
a bastard cedar
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counterfeit; spurious
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of bastard
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Anglo-French bastard, from Medieval Latin bastardus, perhaps ultimately from Germanic bāst-, bōst- (unrecorded) “marriage” + Old French -ard -ard, taken as signifying the offspring of a polygynous marriage to a woman of lower status, a pagan tradition not sanctioned by the church; compare Old Frisian bost “marriage,” see also bind; the traditional explanation of Old French bastard as derivative of fils de bast “child of a packsaddle” is doubtful on chronological and geographical grounds
Explanation
Bastard used to be a not nice thing you called a child whose parents weren't married. But now it's a more general insult hurled toward a jerk or bad person. Bastard can also simply mean "fraudulent." This is a great example of how words change in meaning over time. Today, if you were called a bastard, it probably has nothing to do with whether or not your parents are married: it just means someone doesn't like you (unless they call you a magnificent bastard, which is a compliment). Bastard can also mean phony or fake, like a bastard version of French that is not correct. When you think bastard, think illegitimate.
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:
MMA is the bastard child of illegal street fights and martial arts, which has always made for a strange blend of freak-show sleaze and a culture of respect.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
Leonardo da Vinci—whose very name indicates he’s from a place, rather than of a person—was one such bastard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
He reacts with the defiance of a man whose football-playing friend recently described him as a "hard bastard".
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
Overcompensating for Tom's bastard status, she is overly warm to him and consistently neglects Blifil, which has caused him to grow up jealous and bitter.
From Salon ● May 22, 2023
And word has come to us that Roose Bolton moves toward Winterfell with all his power, there to wed his bastard to your half sister.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Beforehand, Salfordian frontman Shaun Ryder told BBC News it was "brilliant that those lazy bastards from London have decided to get off their bums and come up north for an hour or two".
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
The Renaissance, Jacob Burckhardt once wrote, was a golden age for bastards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
The day we stop celebrating and arguing about art is the day we’ll know the bastards have won, writes critic Mary McNamara.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2025
"And we will rebuild. No matter what these Russian terrorists and bastards may do, we will rebuild and restore everything," he said.
From Reuters ● Feb. 23, 2023
Stevron and Jared are too old for the lists now, but Danwell and Hosteen rode, Perwyn as well, and a couple of my bastards tried the melee.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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.
