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

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

Goldman Sachs believes stocks are not bad investments despite high valuations, citing rapidly rising corporate earnings.

From Barron's • May 27, 2026

They’re not bad but they’re not special, you know?

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2026

I did better at the ones where I could at least run around, because I was not bad at running.

From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram

Related Words

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