Word.ws English Dictionary

give a bad name

give a bad name verb: to cause people to lose respect, reverence or esteem for something or someone.

Verb

give a bad name (third-person singular simple present gives a bad name, present participle giving a bad name, simple past gave a bad name, past participle given a bad name)

  1. To cause people to lose respect, reverence or esteem for something or someone.
    • The Spanish Inquisition gave all other government inquisitions a bad name, as far as common usage is concerned.
    • Shot through the heart and you're to blame / Darling, you give love a bad name1986, “You Give Love a Bad Name”, in Slippery When Wet, performed by Bon Jovi

Synonyms of give a bad name

15 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of give a bad name

third-person singular presentgives a bad name
present participlegiving a bad name
pastgave a bad name
past participlegiven a bad name

Questions about give a bad name

What does give a bad name mean?
Give a bad name means to cause people to lose respect, reverence or esteem for something or someone.
What part of speech is give a bad name?
Give a bad name is a verb.
What is the past tense of give a bad name?
The past tense of give a bad name is gave a bad name.

Words near give a bad name in the dictionary

  1. givable
  2. Givan
  3. Givans
  4. give
  5. give 110%
  6. give a bad name
  7. give a bugger
  8. give a crap
  9. give a damn
  10. give a darn
  11. give a dog a bad name and hang him

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: give a bad name (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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