not bad

Idioms  

1. Also, not half bad;; not too shabby. Fairly good, as in Not bad, said the conductor, but we need to play the scherzo again, or The movie wasn't half bad, but Jerry wanted to go home, or Our garden's not too bad this year, or How are things going?—Not too shabby. All of the terms involving bad, which imply that something is less bad than it might be, date from the mid-1700s. The last variant, using shabby in the sense of “inferior,” is slang of the late 1900s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

not bad

And the Dodgers relievers, within the same constraints, have a 3.83 ERA — not bad, but not in the top 10 either.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

“It is not bad for organizations to have more.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026

Even unhealthy or bad relationships are not bad 100% of the time.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 6, 2026

Current deals bring VPN Plus down to $2.99/month on the 2-year plan – not bad for Swiss-level protection.

From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026

They went in, and were surprised to find that the going was not bad.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Related Words

• adequate
• allowable
• bearable
• decent
• livable
• presentable
• respectable
• satisfactory
• sufficient
• sustainable