bad

Adjective (1)

bad (comparative worse or (nonstandard) badder or (nonstandard) more bad, superlative worst or (nonstandard) baddest or (nonstandard) most bad)

1. Of low quality.
   • That movie was really bad!

   Synonyms:

   cruddy, lousy, shoddy, ass, base, below par, bottom-shelf, BTEC, bum, cheap

2. Inaccurate; incorrect
   • A bad guess.
   • This sentence has bad grammar!
3. Unfavorable; negative; not good.
   • Hiring practice is very bad in this company.
   • The weather looks pretty bad right now.

   Synonyms:

   unfavorable, negative

4. Not suitable or fitting.
   • Do you think it is a bad idea to confront him directly?

   Synonyms:

   inappropriate, unfit, discommensurate, improper, malapropos, inapt, incommensurate, inept, inopportune, out of line

5. Not appropriate, of manners etc.
   • It is bad manners to talk with your mouth full.
   • “[…] if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […]”1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
6. Harmful, especially unhealthy; liable to cause health problems.
   • Lard is bad for you. Smoking is bad for you, too. Grapes are bad for dogs but not for humans.

   Synonyms:

   unhealthful, unwholesome, harmful, damaging, deleterious, detrimental, hurtful, inimical, injurious, mischievous

7. (chiefly applied to a person's state of health) Sickly, unhealthy, unwell.
   • Joe's in a bad way; he can't even get out of bed.
   • I went to the hospital to see how my grandfather was doing. Unfortunately, he's in a bad state.

   Synonyms:

   ill, poorly, sickly, ailing, crank, crook, green about the gills, icky, indisposed, infirm

8. The injured or weak one of a pair of body parts, where the other one is healthy.
   • I accidentally put my weight on my bad leg and fell over.
9. (childish, often) Not behaving; behaving badly; misbehaving; mischievous or disobedient.
   • Stop being bad, or you will get a spanking!
   • I can tell that new kid at our daycare is trouble […] He's picking out his favorite corner to stand in when he's bad.2014 August 28, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic)
10. Tricky; stressful; unpleasant.
    • Divorce is usually a bad experience for everybody involved.

    Synonyms:

    foul, loathsome, abhorrant, abhorrent, sickly, mean, infernal, bum, horrid, vile

11. (childish, sometimes) Evil; wicked.
    • Be careful. There are bad people in the world.

    Synonyms:

    vile, vicious, abandoned, arrant, bad apple, bad seed, baleful, scurrilous, baneful, base

12. Faulty; not functional.
    • I had a bad headlight.

    Synonyms:

    inoperative, borked, broken, broken-down, bum, bung, busted, cactused, crocked, dead

Adjective (2)

bad (not comparable)

1. (informal) Not covered by funds on account.
   • He gave me a bad check.

   Synonyms:

   rubber, hot

Adjective (3)

bad (comparative badder or more bad, superlative baddest or most bad)

1. (slang) Bold, daring, and tough.
   • He's the baddest guy in town!

   Synonyms:

   badass, adventurous, mettlesome, aweless, bold, brass-balled, chivalrous, courageous, daredevil, daring

2. (slang, semantic change) Good, superlative, excellent, cool.
   • Man, that new car you bought is bad!
   • You is bad, man!

   Synonyms:

   acceptable, agreeable, all right, amazing, as fine as Dick's hatband, awesome, beatific, bene, blissful, bodacious

3. (US, slang) Overly promiscuous, licentious.
   • You leave your girl around me; if she's bad she's gonna get stuck.2005, “Stay Fly”, in Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), Most Known Unknown, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring...

   Synonyms:

   abandoned, common, easy, fast, lascivious, lewd, liberal, libidinous, licentious, loose

4. (slang) Very attractive; hot, sexy.
   • Hopefully I can pull some bad bitches tonight.
5. (slang, "bad girl", and similar phrases) Attractive due to (one's) rebellious nature.
   • That boy is the baddest!
   • She's the baddest girl!

Adverb

bad (comparative worse, superlative worst)

1. (colloquial, slang) Badly; poorly.
   • I didn't do too bad in the last exam.
   • He is quite bad off now that both his parents lost their jobs.
2. (emphatic, intensifier, slang) Badly; severely, extremely, passionately, eagerly.
   • Please come back, baby. I miss you so bad!
   • I want you / I want you so bad, it's driving me mad1969, Lennon–McCartney, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, in Abbey Road, performed by The Beatles

Noun

bad (countable and uncountable, plural bads)

1. (slang) Something that is bad; a harm or evil.
   • We idealize God as supergoodness in order to protect against a bad that we cannot unite with ourselves.2001, Ann Belford Ulanov, Finding Space: Winnicott, God, and Psychic Reality, page 59
2. (slang) Error; mistake.
   • "My bad, My bad!” Juwan yelled, scowling1993, Mitch Albom, Fab five: basketball, trash talk, the American dream
   • “Chico, you're late again.” I turned around and stared him in his beady eyes. “I missed my bus. My bad, Donald.” “Your bad? Your bad? What kind of English is that?2003, Zane, Skyscraper, page 7
3. (slang) An item (or kind of item) of merchandise with negative value; an unwanted good.
   • Imports are an economic good but exports an economic bad. Exports must be produced but are enjoyed by foreign consumers.2011, Henry Thompson, International Economics: Global Markets and Competition, 3rd edition, World Scientific, page 97
   • An economic bad is anything that you would pay to get rid of. It is not so hard to think of examples of bads: pollution, garbage, and disease fit the description.2011, William J. Boyes, Michael Melvin, Economics, 9th edition, Cengage Learning, page 4

Interjection

1. (slang) Used to scold a misbehaving child or pet.
   • Bad! You know you're not allowed in the kitchen after dinner.

Verb

bad (third-person singular simple present bads, present participle badding, simple past and past participle badded)

1. (UK, dialectal, slang, transitive) To shell (a walnut).
   • A curious specimen of Gloucestershire dialect came out in an assault case heard by the Gloucester court magistrates on Saturday. One of the witnesses, speaking of what a girl was doing at the time the assault took place, said she was ‘badding’ walnuts in a pigstye. The word is peculiarly...1876, The Gloucester Journal, Oct. 7, 1876, reported in A. Gregory, “Gloucestershire Dialect,” Notes and Queries, 5th ser., 6, 148 (1876‑10‑28): 346