She eyes the other girls' clothes. A bright orange skirt. Good. A black cocktail dress with a gold belt. Not bad. A white dress with a blousy, frilly top. Hideous. Karl Taro Greenfeld
: quite good or impressive
For the second time in three games, Patrick Roy blanked the Dallas Stars. Not bad for a player who insists he is not a shutout goalie.The New York Times
Adjective The house is in bad condition. a letter written in bad French He had a bad day at the office. I was having a bad dream. She made a very bad impression on her future colleagues. We've been having bad weather lately. The medicine left a bad taste in his mouth. It's a bad time for business right now. Things are looking pretty bad for us at this point. I have a bad feeling about this. Noun There's more good than bad in him. We need to teach our children the difference between good and bad. teaching children the difference between the good and the bad He believes that the good go to heaven when they die and the bad go to hell. Adverb He hasn't succeeded because he doesn't want it bad enough. you didn't do too bad on the treadmill test See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Things are bad in America now — climate change, political unrest, pandemic, a vast wealth gap — but at least people aren’t being flambéed by dragons. John Kelly, Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2022 The aggravation factor tends to be multiplied if the team is bad, and most have pegged the Bears for 10 or more losses in the first year of the Ryan Poles-Matt Eberflus regime. Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 10 Sep. 2022 Inflation was bad and getting worse, with no end in sight; many were predicting an imminent recession. Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 9 Sep. 2022 How bad are investors feeling about the markets these days? Akane Otani, WSJ, 9 Sep. 2022 Because deadly heat isn’t bad enough, Californians are dying in wildfires, too. Sammy Rothstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2022 To even get that close isn’t bad for a program that doesn’t feature players who were born with a racquet in their hands or have decades of USTA Junior tournament experience. Steve Brand, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Sep. 2022 Phillips III was the closest defender to Richardson, but only after sprinting from the right hash all the way to the left sideline, which says something about how bad the defense was on that play. Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Sep. 2022 But in fact, teaching them that the world is dangerous is bad for their health, happiness, and success. Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 1 Sep. 2022
Noun
Up until this point, the show had led viewers to believe that the big bad was Doomsday, the beast who famously killed Superman in the comics. Chancellor Agard, EW.com, 26 Jan. 2022 And yet, no, Savathun is not the big bad of the entire Destiny franchise. Paul Tassi, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021 Wanda and Captain Marvel, the only other female Avenger to helm her own property so far, are the two members of the team who could have defeated the big bad of the last two Avengers films, Thanos.New York Times, 11 Mar. 2021 The accidental bumps and sorrys and quiet my bads create a low hum as the group finds its rhythm behind Jaydon. Adam Harris, The Atlantic, 29 Aug. 2019 And the true halfway point of Mr. Robot would’ve come sometime during S3, which ends by finally putting Elliot in direct odds with big bads White Rose and the Dark Army. Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, 14 Dec. 2017 Some good news to buffer the bad: Andreas Athanasiou will practice with the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday, and could be in the lineup this trip. Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press, 25 Oct. 2017 Our big bads in the Hawkins federal lab seem to be ramping up to factor heavily into this modern theme. Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, 31 Oct. 2017 Domestic Goods — and Bads: Robin Thicke and model girlfriend April Love Geary are expecting a baby. … Christie D'zurilla, latimes.com, 19 Aug. 2017
Adverb
Kids get a lot of their confidence and sense of self-worth from their families — thus the emphasis on parents’ not bad-mouthing each other. Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2022 And so all those businesses on the way into Yosemite on the south are hurting pretty bad. Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 18 July 2022 The parents of the Oxford school shooting suspect have reached their limit with the prosecutor and are asking a judge to sanction her for allegedly ignoring their requests to stop bad-mouthing them and calling them liars. Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press, 21 June 2022 The Fed’s bad-tasting medicine may slow it down eventually, but the medicine takes some time to work. John Dorfman, Forbes, 25 Apr. 2022 Drake got this man down bad after responding to a troll’s comment about his son Adonis…. Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 4 May 2022 According to the Times, in 2018 Barbara Ledeen, a Republican Senate aide who had reportedly developed Groundswell’s enemies list with Ginni Thomas, participated in a plot to oust McMaster by secretly taping him bad-mouthing Trump. Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2022 Although these scenarios correlate with a better global GDP for roughly the next 20 years, things go bad afterward, with the GDP reduced by up to 3 percent for the ensuing 60 years (with no predictions for what happens after that). K.e.d Coan, Ars Technica, 28 Dec. 2021 Then, the chief of staff began ignoring the aide’s phone calls, lying about meetings being canceled, and bad-mouthing her to Sims, according to the complaint. Alice Yin, chicagotribune.com, 17 Dec. 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
Middle English badde, bad, of obscure origin
Note: The Middle English word apparently appears as a surname or element in surnames in the 13th century, but as an independent adjective not before the 14th century. The supposed connection with the marginally attested Old English words bæddel, bædling (vowel length uncertain) "hermaphrodite, homosexual" is possible but uncertain (direct descent of badde from bæddel through phonetic reduction is unlikely).
Noun
Middle English badde, noun derivative of baddebad entry 1