bad
adjective
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worst\ ˈwərst
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Definition of bad
(Entry 1 of 3)
bad
nounDefinition of bad (Entry 2 of 3)
bad
adverbDefinition of bad (Entry 3 of 3)
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Synonyms & Antonyms for bad
Synonyms: Adjective
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
Synonyms: Noun
evil, evildoing, ill, immorality, iniquity, sin, villainy, wrong
Synonyms: Adverb
badly, deficiently, inadequately, lousily, poorly, unacceptably, unsatisfactorily, wretchedly
Antonyms: Adjective
acceptable, adequate, all right, decent, fine, OK (or okay), passable, respectable, satisfactory, standard, tolerable
Antonyms: Noun
Antonyms: Adverb
acceptably, adequately, all right, fine, good, nicely, OK (or okay), palatably, passably, satisfactorily, so-so, tolerably, well
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Examples of bad in a Sentence
Adjective
The house is in bad condition. a letter written in bad French He had a bad day at the office. I was having a bad dream. She made a very bad impression on her future colleagues. We've been having bad weather lately. The medicine left a bad taste in his mouth. It's a bad time for business right now. Things are looking pretty bad for us at this point. I have a bad feeling about this.Noun
There's more good than bad in him. We need to teach our children the difference between good and bad. teaching children the difference between the good and the bad He believes that the good go to heaven when they die and the bad go to hell.Adverb
He hasn't succeeded because he doesn't want it bad enough. you didn't do too bad on the treadmill test
Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
To make matters worse, occupation authorities advance the Israeli sector to the detriment of Palestinian companies that are succeeding. — Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker, "Why Jared Kushner’s Bahrain Conference Won’t Do Much for the Palestinian Economy," 19 June 2019 Higher temperatures can also make air pollution worse, make water scarce and cause crops to fail, leading to malnutrition and starvation. — Jen Christensen, CNN, "Future summers will 'smash' temperature records every year," 17 June 2019 Deficits that arise from tax cuts aren’t as bad as those that come from spending increases. — Karl W. Smith, The Denver Post, "Guest Commentary: Not all budget deficits are created equal," 17 June 2019 Trump tried to explain himself on Twitter the next day, only to make matters worse. — Graeme Mcmillan, WIRED, "While You Were Offline: Justin Bieber Wants to Fight Tom Cruise," 16 June 2019 Indeed, Steve Kerr walked back his initial contention that he was told Durant couldn’t make his initial injury worse. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "No way to say Warriors rushed back Klay Thompson," 14 June 2019 On these rainiest summer days, the extreme heat is so unbearable that turning the fan on seems only to make things worse. — Joshua Wong, Time, "I'm in Prison Because I Fought For My City's Freedom. Hong Kong's Extradition Law Would be a Victory for Authoritarianism Everywhere," 14 June 2019 The relative impact is even worse for Lyft, which operates only in the US and therefore has more risk concentrated in California. — Alison Griswold, Quartz, "How much it would cost Uber and Lyft if drivers were employees," 14 June 2019 But the brewers at Seven Bro7hers in Salford, England have arrived at a solution for separating their suds from the rest: using bad cereal. — Andrew Daniels, Popular Mechanics, "Here’s How to Turn Old Rice Krispies, Cocoa Krispies, and Corn Flakes Into Beer," 14 June 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
And the true halfway point of Mr. Robot would’ve come sometime during S3, which ends by finally putting Elliot in direct odds with big bads White Rose and the Dark Army. — Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, "Mr. Robot S3: If you abandoned f-society last year, it’s time to come back," 14 Dec. 2017 Some good news to buffer the bad: Andreas Athanasiou will practice with the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday, and could be in the lineup this trip. — Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press, "Red Wings lament lack of offense, look forward to Athanasiou's return," 25 Oct. 2017 Our big bads in the Hawkins federal lab seem to be ramping up to factor heavily into this modern theme. — Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, "Stranger Things 2: The hype strikes back, but the story alliance is ready," 31 Oct. 2017 Domestic Goods — and Bads: Robin Thicke and model girlfriend April Love Geary are expecting a baby. … — Christie D'zurilla, latimes.com, "Did You Hear ... ? Late-night TV takes on Trump, Tom Cruise lands hard and more from the week in entertainment," 19 Aug. 2017Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb
And though Koepka will have to wait another month before going for major No. 5, at the British Open at Royal Portrush, his resume didn’t take too bad a hit. — Eddie Pells, The Denver Post, "Brooks Koepka makes U.S. Open history, but no 3 in a row," 17 June 2019 Mirroring the Scientology custom whereby anyone who bad-mouths the church is ostracized as a nonperson, the practice smacks of a cult. — Lionel Shriver, Harper's magazine, "Cruel and Unusual Punishment," 10 Feb. 2019 Apart from all the hurricane of all that fire coming up real bad. — Mark Phillips, CBS News, "97-year-old former paratrooper makes another jump 75 years after D-Day," 5 June 2019 As bad a beating as the left took this year, losses may be starker and deeper in years to come. — The Economist, "Justice Kennedy is retiring. What happens now?," 30 June 2018 While survey data might be more representative, people are notoriously bad at reporting their own behaviors. — Rani Molla, Recode, "Americans seem to like ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. But it’s hard to say exactly how many use them.," 24 June 2018 Not bad a for a team that has had trouble finding the net all season. — Jeremy Fuchs, SI.com, "Power Rankings: Are the Lightning and Predators on a Stanley Cup Final Crash Course?," 12 Mar. 2018 Harnack says this is a difficult topic to research because only a few large chains have posted calorie information to date, and people are also notoriously bad a estimating their calorie intake. — CBS News, "Does posting calorie counts change what we order?," 8 May 2018 Restaurant diners are notoriously bad at keeping reservations. — Aubrey Nagle, Philly.com, "Sixers star needs surgery, S. Jersey church hires armed police, Nova Nation preps for Final Four | Morning Newsletter," 30 Mar. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bad.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Statistics for bad
Last Updated
22 Jun 2019
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Time Traveler for bad
The first known use of bad was in the 13th century
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More Definitions for bad
bad
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of bad
(Entry 1 of 2)
bad
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of bad (Entry 2 of 2)
See the full definition for bad in the English Language Learners Dictionary
bad
adjective
\
Kids Definition of bad
bad
adjectiveLegal Definition of bad
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