bad

bad

bad¹ [bad]

adj.

worse, worst [ME bad, badde < ? OE bæddel, hermaphrodite]

1.

a) not good; not as it should be [a bad attitude, a bad deal]

b) defective in quality; below standard; inadequate [bad plumbing]

2. showing a lack of talent, judgment, aptitude, skill, etc. [a bad painting, a bad writer]

3. not pleasant; unfavorable; disagreeable [bad news]

4. rotten; spoiled [a bad apple]

5. incorrect; faulty; erroneous [bad spelling]

6.

a) wicked; immoral

b) not behaving properly; mischievous

7. causing injury; harmful [bad for one's health]

8. severe [a bad storm]

9. ill; in poor health

10. sorry; distressed [he feels bad about it]: cf. BADLY

11. offensive; disgusting [a bad smell]

12. unpaid and not collectible [a bad debt]

13. Law defective; not valid; void [a bad title] badder, baddest

☆ 14. Slang very good, stylish, effective, etc.

adv.

worse, worst

Informal badly

n.

1. anything that is bad; bad quality or state

2. wickedness

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go to the bad

Informal to become wicked, shiftless, etc.; degenerate

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☆ in bad Informal

1. in trouble

2. in disfavor

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not bad

Informal good; fairly good; not unsatisfactory: also not half bad or not so bad

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the bad

those who are wicked

badness

n.

SYN.- BAD¹, in this comparison, is the broadest term, ranging in implication from merely unsatisfactory to utterly depraved; EVIL and WICKED connote willful violation of a moral code, but EVIL often has ominous or malevolent implications [an evil hour ], and WICKED is sometimes weakened in a playful way to mean mischievous [wicked wit ]; ILL¹, which is slightly weaker than EVIL in its implications of immorality, is now used chiefly in certain idiomatic phrases [ill-gotten gains ]; NAUGHTY today implies mere mischievousness or disobedience [a naughty child ] -ANT. GOOD, MORAL

bad² [bad]

vt., vi.

1. archaic pt. of BID¹

2. obs. pt. of BIDE