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in the worst way

Idioms  

  1. Desperately, very much, as in He wanted a new trumpet in the worst way. This usage replaced worst kind. [Colloquial; second half of 1800s]

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.