Synonyms

not bad

Idioms

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"That's not bad, in times like these, believe me."

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

Retiring on $138,000 a year is not bad going, even with Uncle Sam taking his income taxes.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026

And, even if the Dodgers are the bad guys, they are not bad for business.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

That’s still slower than filling up the tank with diesel, but not bad for an EV.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

“Varney’s not bad, Bull, and you’ve got no choice. You have to get along with him. He outranks you.”

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023