Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
×

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

1

bad

play
adjective \ˈbad\

Definition of bad

worse

play \ˈwərs\;

worst

play \ˈwərst\

  1. 1a :  failing to reach an acceptable standard :  poor a bad repair jobb :  unfavorable make a bad impressionc :  not fresh :  spoiled bad fishd :  not sound :  dilapidated the house was in bad condition

  2. 2a :  morally objectionable :  evil bad menb :  mischievous, disobedient a bad dog

  3. 3 :  inadequate or unsuited to a purpose a bad plan bad lighting

  4. 4 :  disagreeable, unpleasant bad news

  5. 5a :  injurious, harmful a bad influenceb :  serious, severe in bad trouble a bad cough

  6. 6 :  incorrect, faulty bad grammar

  7. 7a :  suffering pain or distress felt generally badb :  unhealthy, diseased bad teeth

  8. 8 :  sorrowful, sorry feels bad about forgetting to call

  9. 9a :  invalid, void a bad checkb :  not able to be collected a bad debt

  10. 10 badder; baddest slang a :  good, great one of the baddest songwriters to be found anywhere — Black Collegianb :  tough, mean the baddest guy on the block

badness

noun

not bad

  1. :  fairly or acceptably good She eyes the other girls' clothes. A bright orange skirt. Good. A black cocktail dress with a gold belt. Not bad. A white dress with a blousy, frilly top. Hideous. — Karl Taro Greenfeld :  quite good or impressive For the second time in three games, Patrick Roy blanked the Dallas Stars. Not bad for a player who insists he is not a shutout goalie. — The New York Times

See bad defined for English-language learners

See bad defined for kids

People Are Reading

feel-bad
Is It 'Feel Bad' or 'Feel Badly'?
presidential-flub-obama-enormity
Words Unfit for Office
image1358596246
Words About Word Play
emoji-the-quiz
The Emoji Quiz

Examples of bad in a Sentence

  1. The house is in bad condition.

  2. a letter written in bad French

  3. He had a bad day at the office.

  4. I was having a bad dream.

  5. She made a very bad impression on her future colleagues.

  6. We've been having bad weather lately.

  7. The medicine left a bad taste in his mouth.

  8. It's a bad time for business right now.

  9. Things are looking pretty bad for us at this point.

  10. I have a bad feeling about this.

Origin and Etymology of bad

Middle English badde, bad, of obscure origin ◆The Middle English word apparently appears as a surname or element in surnames in the 13th century, but as an independent adjective not before the 14th century. The supposed connection with the marginally attested Old English words bæddel, bædling (vowel length uncertain) “hermaphrodite, homosexual” is possible but uncertain (direct descent of badde from bæddel through phonetic reduction is unlikely).

bad Synonyms

Synonyms
bastard, bush, bush-league, crummy (also crumby), deficient, dissatisfactory, ill, inferior, lame, lousy, off, paltry, poor, punk, sour, suboptimal, subpar, substandard, unacceptable, unsatisfactory, wack [slang], wanting, wretched, wrong, below (or under) par, from hunger
Antonyms
acceptable, adequate, all right, decent, fine, OK (or okay), passable, respectable, satisfactory, standard, tolerable
Related Words
abysmal, atrocious, awful, bitchin' [slang], brutal, damnable, deplorable, detestable, disastrous, dreadful, execrable, gnarly [slang], horrendous, horrible, pathetic, stinky, sucky [slang], terrible, unspeakable; defective, faulty, flawed; egregious, flagrant, gross; bum, cheesy, coarse, common, crappy [slang], cut-rate, junky, lesser, low-grade, low-rent, mediocre, miserable, reprehensible, rotten, rubbishy, second-rate, shoddy, sleazy, trashy; abominable, odious, vile; useless, valueless, worthless; inadequate, insufficient, lacking, meager (or meagre), mean, miserly, niggardly, scanty, shabby, short, skimp, skimpy, spare, stingy; miscreant, scurrilous, villainous; counterfeit, fake, phony (also phoney), sham
Near Antonyms
classic, classical; A1, bang-up, banner, boss [slang], capital, choice, crackerjack, dandy, divine, excellent, exceptional, fabulous, fine, first-class, first-rate, grand, great, groovy, heavenly, high-test, jim-dandy, keen, marvelous (or marvellous), mean, neat, nifty, noble, par excellence, perfect, premium, prime, sensational, slick, splendid, stellar, sterling, superb, superior, superlative, supernal, swell, terrific, tip-top, top, top-notch, unsurpassed, wonderful; better, exceptional, fancy, high-grade, special, sufficient; average, borderline, fair, mediocre, middling, minimal, so-so, unexceptional; suitable, useful, worthy; gratifying, satisfying
2

bad

noun

Definition of bad

  1. 1 :  something that is bad There's more good than bad in him. Take the good with the bad.

  2. 2 :  an evil or unhappy state Things went from bad to worse.

  3. 3 :  fault 4 the mistake was my bad

See bad defined for English-language learners

Examples of bad in a Sentence

  1. There's more good than bad in him.

  2. We need to teach our children the difference between good and bad.

  3. teaching children the difference between the good and the bad

  4. He believes that the good go to heaven when they die and the bad go to hell.

Origin and Etymology of bad

Middle English badde, noun derivative of badde 1bad

bad Synonyms

Synonyms
evil, evildoing, ill, immorality, iniquity, sin, villainy, wrong
Antonyms
good, morality, right, virtue
Related Words
atrociousness, atrocity, badness, balefulness, darkness, depravedness, devilishness, diabolism, enormity, evilness, heinousness, iniquitousness, satanism, sinfulness, vileness, wickedness; devilry (or deviltry), fiendishness; cancer, canker, decay, rot, squalor; corruption, debauchery, degeneracy, depravity, indecency, malefaction, perversion, pervertedness, scurrility, scurrilousness; abomination, anathema, taboo (also tabu)
Near Antonyms
decency, goodness, honesty, integrity, probity, rectitude, uprightness; goodness, righteousness, virtuousness
3

bad

adverb

Definition of bad

  1. :  badly not doing so bad doesn't want it bad enough

See bad defined for English-language learners

Examples of bad in a Sentence

  1. He hasn't succeeded because he doesn't want it bad enough.

  2. you didn't do too bad on the treadmill test

Origin and Etymology of bad

adverbial derivative of 1bad

bad Synonyms

Synonyms
badly, deficiently, inadequately, lousily, poorly, unacceptably, unsatisfactorily, wretchedly
Antonyms
acceptably, adequately, all right, fine, good, nicely, OK (or okay), palatably, passably, satisfactorily, so-so, tolerably, well
Related Words
abysmally, atrociously, awfully, damnably, deplorably, detestably, disastrously, dreadfully, execrably, horrendously, horribly, horrifically, rottenly, terribly; intolerably, unbearably; inappropriately, incorrectly, indecently, reprehensibly, unsuitably, vulgarly; naughtily; egregiously, flagrantly, grossly; miserably, shoddily, sleazily, trashily, unspeakably; abominably, odiously, vilely; inferiorly, insufficiently, meagerly, meanly, niggardly, scantily, scantly, shabbily, skimpily, sparely, stingily
Near Antonyms
appropriately, congruously, correctly, decently, decorously, felicitously, fittingly, meetly, rightly, seemly, suitably; exactly, faithfully, ideally, precisely, respectably; gratifyingly, satisfyingly

BAD Defined for English Language Learners

bad

play
adjective

Definition of bad for English Language Learners

  • : low or poor in quality

  • : not correct or proper

  • : not pleasant, pleasing, or enjoyable

bad

noun

Definition of bad for English Language Learners

  • : morally bad forces or influences

  • the bad : the unpleasant things that happen to people

  • : things that are morally wrong

BAD Defined for Kids

bad

play
adjective \ˈbad\

Definition of bad for Students

worse

\ˈwərs\;

worst

\ˈwərst\

  1. 1 :  not good :  poor bad weather bad work

  2. 2 :  not favorable a bad report bad times

  3. 3 :  not fresh or sound bad meat

  4. 4 :  not good or right :  evil a bad person

  5. 5 :  not behaving properly a bad dog

  6. 6 :  not enough bad lighting

  7. 7 :  unpleasant bad news

  8. 8 :  harmful bad for the health

  9. 9 :  serious 2, severe a bad cold in bad trouble

  10. 10 :  not correct bad spelling bad manners

  11. 11 :  not cheerful or calm a bad mood

  12. 12 :  not healthy bad teeth He felt bad from a cold.

  13. 13 :  sorry 1 I felt bad about my mistake.

  14. 14 :  not skillful a bad musician

badness

noun

Law Dictionary

bad

adjective

Legal Definition of bad

  1. :  not valid :  void bad notice; especially :  not covered by sufficient funds a bad check

Learn More about bad

  1. See words that rhyme with bad Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for bad Spanish Central: Translation of bad Nglish: Translation of bad for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of bad for Arabic speakers

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up bad? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show hide

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

fester

play

to become worse as time passes

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. transgender Trump reverses military policy allowing transgender people to serve

  2. beleaguer 'Being subjected to constant or repeated trouble or harassment'

  3. scaramouch A new White House communications director

  4. non sequitur “It does not follow”

  5. admiral's mast A massive search ends with an 'admiral's mast'.

SEE ALL

BROWSE DICTIONARY

bad

Test Your Vocabulary

The Emoji Quiz

  • emoji-the-quiz
  • What phase of the moon is this: 🌖 ?
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ
Citation

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

alt-5978b44edfb13
Our (Almost) Final Word on 'Penultimate'

The ultimate guide to using penultimate.

alt-5978cb55e8ba5
The Grammatical History of 'Awaken'/'Awoken'/'Awakened'

Or you can just go back to bed.

alt-59775cb5d7779
Words We're Watching: 'Aquafaba'

Don't dump out the bean water just yet...

image1358596246
Words About Word Play

Don't just eat your words—play with them!

Ask the Editors

video-title-words-of-the-year-1066
Words of the Year: 1066

Or, Why Pig Meat is Called 'Pork' and Cow Meat is Called 'Beef'

payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?

Don't get us started on 'bimonthly'

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless
Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals
Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

emoji-the-quiz
The Emoji Quiz

Think you’re an emoji 👓 expert? Let’s see 🤔

Take the quiz
image941935269
A Game of Thrones Word Quiz

In the Game of Thrones quiz, you learn some new vocabulary. (It’s quite safe, really. You will not die.)

Take the quiz
Spell It
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Take the quiz
Citation
Citation

Do you know the person or title these quotes describe?

Play the game
Examples: bad in a Sentence