badly

adverb

bad·​ly ˈbad-lē 

1

: in a bad manner

played badly

2

: to a great or intense degree

want something badly

Phrases

badly off for

British

: strongly in need of (something or someone)

It may seem pie in the sky in the current financial climate, but few could argue that for a city of its size and prestige, Edinburgh is badly off for large-scale sports facilities.

—The Evening News (Edinburgh, Scotland)

not badly

: fairly or acceptably well

The economy is doing not badly and looks even better than it really is.

—Tom Teepen

think badly of

: to have an unfavorable or low opinion of (someone or something)

Will you think badly of me if I disagree?

Synonyms of badly

• poorly
• bad

Examples of badly in a Sentence

He played badly but I played even worse.

The failure reflects badly on the administration.

She wanted the job badly.

I'm badly in need of a vacation.

His fingers were badly frozen.

Recent Examples on the Web

Amid all this change, department stores started to seem rather old-fashioned, a sea of sameness offering tired brands in badly lit, boilerplate stores where everything seemed to eventually end up in the discount bin. —Phil Wahba, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2025

The Rams badly need this one — a loss would put them on the wrong side of a season sweep against the 49ers, a setback that could loom large in division tiebreakers down the stretch. —Andy Scholes, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025

That was when the practice began of parents withholding food from children who performed badly on their pre-exams as an incentive to study harder. —George Packer, The Atlantic, 6 Nov. 2025

His head was swollen to twice its size, he’d been badly beaten and bruised, and there were two holes in his chest that could have been bullet or stab wounds. —Equal Justice Initiative, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing badly

• badly off

Rhymes for badly

• gladly
• madly
• sadly
• comradely

Kids Definition

badly

adverb

bad·​ly ˈbad-lē 

worse

ˈwərs

; worst

ˈwərst

1

: in a bad manner

played badly

2

: very much

wanted the jeans badly