Word.ws English Dictionary

have it bad

have it bad verb: to be obsessed (with); to be enthralled (by); to be in love (with).

Verb

have it bad (third-person singular simple present has it bad, present participle having it bad, simple past and past participle had it bad)

  1. To be obsessed (with); to be enthralled (by); to be in love (with).
    • Her smile was reward enough for the thought, and realizing it, he knew he had it bad.1993, Dana Stabenow, Dead in the Water, →ISBN, page 68
    • Only because my brother seems to have it bad for you.2014, Gaby Triana -, Summer of Yesterday, →ISBN, page 146
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see have, it, bad. To have a difficult time; to suffer.
    • ‘As if the girls didn’t have it bad enough without poncified bastards like you coming and murdering them.’1938, J. Curtis, They Drive by Night, page 121
    • He thinks he has it bad making new friends in school.2008, Judith O'Reilly, Wife in the North, →ISBN

Forms of have it bad

third-person singular presenthas it bad
present participlehaving it bad
past participlehad it bad
pasthad it bad

Questions about have it bad

What does have it bad mean?
Have it bad means to be obsessed (with); to be enthralled (by); to be in love (with).
What part of speech is have it bad?
Have it bad is a verb.
What is the past tense of have it bad?
The past tense of have it bad is had it bad.

Words near have it bad in the dictionary

  1. have in
  2. have in mind
  3. have it
  4. have it all
  5. have it away
  6. have it bad
  7. have it both ways
  8. have it coming
  9. have it easy
  10. have it going on
  11. have it in for

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have it bad (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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