badly

adverb bad·ly \ ˈbad-lē \

Definition of badly

1 :in a bad manner

played badly

2 :to a great or intense degree

want something badly

— 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)

— 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)

"You shouldn't think badly of the town because of this," said Brogan. "It is a good town."
—Neil Gaiman

See badly defined for English-language learners

See badly defined for kids

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 of badly from the Web

Insurers bought up complex assets to lift returns after crisis Industry’s push into alternative assets also provides benefits Insurers got burned badly in the 2008 financial crisis.

— sonali basak, Bloomberg.com, "BlackRock Finds $5 Trillion Industry Is Now Riskier Than in '08," 29 Aug. 2017
The fire fighters found a good quantity of water available, enabling them to save the main portion of the house, after the kitchen had been sprayed with oil and badly charred.

— kitty conley, Post-Tribune, "Crown Point Star Newspaper Almanac," 28 Aug. 2017
Complicating the picture is that aside from the border-wall issue, most congressional Republicans very badly want defense-spending increases that will involve a waiver on the spending caps that have been in place since 2011.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "If Trump Keeps Threatening Government Shutdown, Democrats Will Have Some Leverage — and Some Options," 24 Aug. 2017
Grasu was beaten badly by Cardinals defensive tackle Frostee Rucker on the second snap of the game.

— brad biggs, chicagotribune.com, "10 thoughts on the offense and Bears' 24-23 preseason win," 20 Aug. 2017
McCray, the Charlotte native who played at Catawba, was beaten badly in coverage against the Titans.

— joseph person, charlotteobserver, "Who will be on Carolina Panthers’ 53-man roster? Here’s the latest projection," 20 Aug. 2017
Friends’ couches have long been safe harbor for those who have messed up their lives badly. Lost your job?

— laura bradley, HWD, "Watch Trump Give the Mooch a Goodbye Smooch on The President Show," 4 Aug. 2017
And the existing stock of terminals is badly in need of upgrades.

— jonathan kay, The Atlantic, "Why Canada Is Able to Do Things Better," 17 July 2017
Lithium behaving badly One obvious solution to increasing the amount of lithium in an electrode is simply to use lithium metal itself.

— john timmer, Ars Technica, "Lithium/graphene “foil” makes for a great battery electrode," 12 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'badly.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.