bad news
Americannoun
noun
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An unwelcome thing or person, trouble. For example, That fire was bad news; we were underinsured for the damage , or No one wants Mary on the board—she's bad news . This term transfers literal bad news—the report of an unhappy recent event—to an unwanted or undesirable individual or circumstance. [ Slang ; 1920s]
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The amount charged for something, as in Waiter, bring our check—I want to see the bad news . [ Slang ; 1920s]
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.
And more bad news on airfares in September’s inflation report.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
AI stocks have been hit by worries about Anthropic's IPO but it isn't all bad news.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
But plague has, for a very long time, been shorthand for various kinds of bad news.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
On Wall Street, that kind of signal — not falling on bad news — can be read as a sign of underlying strength.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
He liked having a job, even if it was sharing bad news.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
