FreeScrabbleDictionary

bad

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
6
Words With Friends
7
Letters
3
Pronunciation
/bæd/
See all 5 pronunciations
/bæd/ · /bæːd/ · /bɛd/ · /baːd/ · /bɛəd/

Definition of bad

36 senses · 5 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Of low quality.
    “That movie was really bad!”
See all 36 definitions

adj

  1. Of low quality.
    “That movie was really bad!”
  2. Inaccurate; incorrect
    “A bad guess.”
    “This sentence has bad grammar!”
    “He speaks bad German!”
  3. Unfavorable; negative; not good.
    “Hiring practice is very bad in this company.”
    “The weather looks pretty bad right now.”
    “You have very bad grades.”
    “He is in a bad mood.”
    “He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.”
  4. Not suitable or fitting.
    “Do you think it is a bad idea to confront him directly?”
  5. Not appropriate, of manners etc.
    “It is bad manners to talk with your mouth full.”
    ““[…] if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […]””
  6. Harmful, especially unhealthy; liable to cause health problems.
    “Lard is bad for you. Smoking is bad for you, too. Grapes are bad for dogs but not for humans.”
  7. Sickly, unhealthy, unwell.
    “Joe's in a bad way; he can't even get out of bed.”
    “I went to the hospital to see how my grandfather was doing. Unfortunately, he's in a bad state.”
    “I've had a bad back since the accident.”
  8. The injured or weak one of a pair of body parts, where the other one is healthy.
    “I accidentally put my weight on my bad leg and fell over.”
  9. (childish, often)Not behaving; behaving badly; misbehaving; mischievous or disobedient.
    “Stop being bad, or you will get a spanking!”
    “I can tell that new kid at our daycare is trouble […] He's picking out his favorite corner to stand in when he's bad.”
  10. Tricky; stressful; unpleasant.
    “Divorce is usually a bad experience for everybody involved.”
  11. (childish, sometimes)Evil; wicked.
    “Be careful. There are bad people in the world.”
  12. Faulty; not functional.
    “I had a bad headlight.”
  13. Spoiled, rotten, overripe.
    “These apples have gone bad.”
  14. Malodorous; foul.
    “Bad breath is not pleasant for anyone.”
  15. False; counterfeit; illegitimate.
    “They were caught trying to pass bad coinage.”
  16. Unskilled; of limited ability; not good.
    “I'm pretty bad at speaking French.”
    “He's a bad gardener; everything he tries to grow ends up dying.”
  17. Of poor physical appearance.
    “I look really bad whenever I get less than seven hours of sleep.”
    “I don't look bad in this dress, do I?”
    “I have such bad skin!”
  18. Severe, urgent.
    “He is in bad need of a haircut.”
    “Oh let me tell you that it / Hurts so bad / It makes me feel so sad / You make it hurt so bad / To see you again.”
  19. Regretful, guilty, or ashamed.
    “I feel so bad for betraying him!”
  20. Vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous.
    “Don't you dare speak to me with that bad language!”
  21. Not worth it.
    “The expensive purse was a bad buy.”
  22. (informal, not-comparable)Not covered by funds on account.
    “He gave me a bad check.”
  23. (slang)Bold, daring, and tough.
    “He's the baddest guy in town!”
  24. (slang)Good, superlative, excellent, cool.
    “Man, that new car you bought is bad!”
    “You is bad, man!”
    “He's the big bad wolf in your neighborhood / not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good”
    “Man, that bitch was bad—it was the best piece of pussy that I ever had.”
  25. (US, slang)Overly promiscuous, licentious.
    “You leave your girl around me; if she's bad she's gonna get stuck.”
  26. (slang)Very attractive; hot, sexy.
    “Hopefully I can pull some bad bitches tonight.”
  27. (Internet, sarcastic, slang)Used without a copula to mock people who oppose something without having any real understanding of it.
    “Orange Man bad”
    “"don't buy chinese games because china bad!!" folks I have good news about a little country called the United States of America”
    “fake reddit moment, he's on tiktok and we all know tiktok bad 😤😤😤”
    “These kind of people only hate the Iraq invasion cuz "USA bad". Not because they truly care about Iraqi's.”
    “-now everyone says it was "never good" because "popular thing bad" and now you're not allowed to like it anymore because it is now against the unspoken social rules thats fucking so great I hate that this happens to everything I like”
  28. (slang)Attractive due to (one's) rebellious nature.
    “That boy is the baddest!”
    “She's the baddest girl!”

adv

  1. (colloquial, slang)Badly; poorly.
    “I didn't do too bad in the last exam.”
    “He is quite bad off now that both his parents lost their jobs.”
    “The sacked quarterback was hurting bad. His back ached so bad that he had to lie down.”
  2. (emphatic, intensifier, slang)Badly; severely, extremely, passionately, eagerly.
    “Please come back, baby. I miss you so bad!”
    “I want you / I want you so bad, it's driving me mad”

noun

  1. (countable, slang, uncountable)Something that is bad; a harm or evil.
    “We idealize God as supergoodness in order to protect against a bad that we cannot unite with ourselves.”
  2. (countable, slang, uncountable)Error; mistake.
    “"My bad, My bad!” Juwan yelled, scowling”
    ““Chico, you're late again.” I turned around and stared him in his beady eyes. “I missed my bus. My bad, Donald.” “Your bad? Your bad? What kind of English is that?”
    “Teresa broke out in laughter. “Dang, I sound like I'm talking to my man.” “I tried your cell phone, but you didn't answer.” “I left it at home, Friday. My bad.” “Yeah, your bad.” I laughed. “Really, I'm sorry. It won't happen again.”
  3. (countable, slang, uncountable)An item (or kind of item) of merchandise with negative value; an unwanted good.
    “Imports are an economic good but exports an economic bad. Exports must be produced but are enjoyed by foreign consumers.”
    “An economic bad is anything that you would pay to get rid of. It is not so hard to think of examples of bads: pollution, garbage, and disease fit the description.”

intj

  1. (slang)Used to scold a misbehaving child or pet.
    “Bad! You know you're not allowed in the kitchen after dinner.”

verb

  1. (alternative, archaic, form-of, past, slang)alternative past of bid. See bade.
  2. (British, dialectal, slang, transitive)To shell (a walnut).
    “A curious specimen of Gloucestershire dialect came out in an assault case heard by the Gloucester court magistrates on Saturday. One of the witnesses, speaking of what a girl was doing at the time the assault took place, said she was ‘badding’ walnuts in a pigstye. The word is peculiarly provincial: to ‘bad’ walnuts is to strip away the husk. The walnut, too, is often called a ‘bannut,’ and hence the old Gloucestershire phrase, ‘Come an’ bad the bannuts.’”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English bad, badde (“wicked, evil, depraved”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortening of Old English bæddel (“hermaphrodite”) (for loss of -el compare Middle English muche from Old English…

See full etymology

From Middle English bad, badde (“wicked, evil, depraved”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortening of Old English bæddel (“hermaphrodite”) (for loss of -el compare Middle English muche from Old English myċel, and Middle English wenche from Old English wenċel), or at least related to it and/or to bǣ̆dan (“to defile”), compare Old High German pad (“hermaphrodite”). Alternatively, perhaps a loan from Old Norse into Middle English, compare Norwegian bad (“effort, trouble, fear”, neuter noun), East Danish bad (“damage, destruction, fight”, neuter noun), from the Proto-Germanic noun *badą, whence also Proto-Germanic *badōną (“to frighten”), Old Saxon undarbadōn (“to frighten”), Norwegian Nynorsk bada (“to weigh down, press”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to bend, press, push, oppress”). False cognate of Persian بد (bad).

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