badly
Americanadverb
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in a defective, incorrect, or undesirable way.
The car runs badly.
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in an unsatisfactory, inadequate, or unskilled manner.
a vague, badly written letter; He paints badly.
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unfavorably.
His neighbors spoke badly of him. The weather turned out badly for the cruise.
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in a wicked, evil, or morally or legally wrong way.
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in a disobedient, naughty, or ethically or socially wrong way.
He treats his parents badly.
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very much; to a great extent or degree.
a house badly in need of repair; to want something badly.
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severely; direly.
to be injured badly.
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with great distress, resentment, regret, or emotional display.
She took the news of her mother's death badly.
adjective
idioms
adverb
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poorly; defectively; inadequately
the chair is badly made
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unfavourably; unsuccessfully; unfortunately
our scheme worked out badly
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severely; gravely
he was badly hurt
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incorrectly or inaccurately
to speak German badly
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improperly; naughtily; wickedly
to behave badly
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without humanity; cruelly
to treat someone badly
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very much (esp in the phrases need badly , badly in need of , want badly )
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regretfully
he felt badly about it
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poor; impoverished
adjective
Usage
In the sense “very much,” badly is fully standard: He needs help badly. See also bad 1.
Etymology
Origin of badly
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English baddeli, baddeliche, badli(che) “wickedly, evilly, poorly”; see origin at bad 1, -ly
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.
It’s difficult to understate just how badly Tuesday went for shares of IBM.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
It makes assumptions about how badly people were affected by the heat, so the findings may not play out.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
“It’s way better here than going to the state hospital. The attention there is awful,” Morales said, happy to get a badly infected pinkie finger treated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Energy typically does well when stock-market indexes and bonds both do badly.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
“Tripped and wrenched my ankle pretty badly, but Miss Charity was able to help me along. It’s nothing, really.”
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
