Word.ws English Dictionary

worse comes to worse

worse comes to worse is the alternative form of worst comes to worst.

Meaning of worst comes to worst

Adverb

worst comes to worst (superlative form only)

  1. (idiomatic) If a possible worst-case scenario actually occurs.
    • “Worst comes to worst, we'll make it to Cleveland and we can set down there and wait things out.” Gordon Rand nearly sneered, “Worst comes to worst? We'll crash and die, isn't that closer to the worst end of the possibility spectrum?2010, Cherie Priest, Dreadnought: A Novel of the Clockwork Century

Forms of worse comes to worse

superlativeform only

Questions about worse comes to worse

What is worse comes to worse the alternative form of?
Worse comes to worse is the alternative form of worst comes to worst.

Words near worse comes to worse in the dictionary

  1. Worsbrough Bridge
  2. Worsdell
  3. worse
  4. worse and worse
  5. worse case scenario
  6. worse comes to worse
  7. worse comes to worst
  8. worse for liquor
  9. worse for ware
  10. worse for wear
  11. worse luck

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: worse comes to worse (page history and authors); worst comes to worst (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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