worse off
adjective
1
: having less money and possessions : less wealthy
He was worse off financially than he was before.
2
: in a worse position
If you quit school, you will be worse off.
Examples of worse off in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The nation has chosen to treat artificial intelligence not as a tool for maximizing any single metric, but as a medium for exploring Pareto improvements — changes that make some parties better off without making others worse off.
—
Cornelia C. Walther, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Yes, there are teams that constantly underwhelm, but the teams that remain talented and in purgatory hell might be worse off.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Aug. 2025
One silver lining for these countries, however, is that most received relatively similar tariff rates of around 20% – meaning garment powerhouses like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka are not significantly worse off than their competitors.
—John Liu, CNN Money, 11 Aug. 2025
Across the aisle, Daily Wire firebrand Matt Walsh recently made headlines -- at one point citing moi -- for arguing that black Americans are likely not worse off today than we would be had our ancestors remained in Africa and, more broadly, that historical revisionism of any kind is foolish.
—Wilfred Reilly, National Review, 4 Apr. 2023
The mice used as controls in that study actually had a below-average rate of cancer, Stanhope said, making the aspartame-eating mice seem worse off.
—Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY, 23 Mar. 2023
Tina Pedersen hasn’t been around very often during the past four months, and Rhode Island is worse off because of it.
—Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023
In a post-pandemic world, the world’s 10 richest men have doubled their fortunes while 99% of humanity are worse off.
—Marianne Lehnis, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023
His strolls through MD Anderson’s halls left him believing others were worse off.
—Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 9 Mar. 2023
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Cornelia C. Walther, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Yes, there are teams that constantly underwhelm, but the teams that remain talented and in purgatory hell might be worse off.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Aug. 2025
One silver lining for these countries, however, is that most received relatively similar tariff rates of around 20% – meaning garment powerhouses like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka are not significantly worse off than their competitors.
—John Liu, CNN Money, 11 Aug. 2025
Across the aisle, Daily Wire firebrand Matt Walsh recently made headlines -- at one point citing moi -- for arguing that black Americans are likely not worse off today than we would be had our ancestors remained in Africa and, more broadly, that historical revisionism of any kind is foolish.
—Wilfred Reilly, National Review, 4 Apr. 2023
The mice used as controls in that study actually had a below-average rate of cancer, Stanhope said, making the aspartame-eating mice seem worse off.
—Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY, 23 Mar. 2023
Tina Pedersen hasn’t been around very often during the past four months, and Rhode Island is worse off because of it.
—Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023
In a post-pandemic world, the world’s 10 richest men have doubled their fortunes while 99% of humanity are worse off.
—Marianne Lehnis, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023
His strolls through MD Anderson’s halls left him believing others were worse off.
—Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 9 Mar. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Worse off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worse%20off. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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