not bad

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

"But it's not bad, I like commuting in."

From BBC

“We are not delinquents, we are not bad people, we are here to work to support our family.”

From Salon

However, environmentalist Nigel Jones argued the declining birth rate locally was not bad.

From BBC

I mean, it’s not bad to be an alcoholic if you acknowledge it, don’t drink and work through it.

From Los Angeles Times

Plus, that “not bad at all” highlights Brown’s willingness to speak his inner monologue out loud.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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