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.

---

Example Sentences

“He’s in ninth grade. He’s not bad, as far as brothers go.”

From Literature

"I know these people in the neighborhood, they're not bad people, so why would they be afraid? They're only coming after the bad guys."

From BBC

Those shops and restaurants may not match the wonder and comfort of a natural bath in the woods, but for civilization, they’re not bad.

From Los Angeles Times

Iain: It's very painfully obvious that Celtic cannot play to Nancy's system, these players are not bad players all of a sudden.

From BBC

After I took a sip with a spoon, she said, “See, it’s not bad.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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