bad

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bad^¹

/bæd/ US, UK
/bæːd/ Australia
/bɛd/ New Zealand
/baːd/ Northumbria, Wales
/bɛəd/

Sounds like bade (one pronunciation) · Rhymes with -æd

Where it comes from

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).

adjective worse · badder · more bad · worst · baddest · most bad

Of low quality. That movie was really bad!
Similar: cruddy, lousy, shoddy, ass, bad, base, below par, bottom-shelf, BTEC, bum, cheap, cheap and nasty
Inaccurate; incorrect A bad guess.
Unfavorable; negative; not good. Hiring practice is very bad in this company.
Similar: unfavorable, negative
Not suitable or fitting. Do you think it is a bad idea to confront him directly?
Similar: inappropriate, unfit, bad, discommensurate, improper, malapropos, inapt, incommensurate, inept, inopportune, out of line, out of order
Not appropriate, of manners etc. It is bad manners to talk with your mouth full.
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.
Similar: unhealthful, unwholesome, harmful, damaging, deleterious, detrimental, hurtful, inimical, injurious, mischievous, nocent, nocuous
Sickly, unhealthy, unwell. Joe's in a bad way; he can't even get out of bed.
Similar: ill, poorly, sickly, ailing, bad, crank, crook, green about the gills, icky, indisposed, infirm, like death warmed over
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.
childish, often Not behaving; behaving badly; misbehaving; mischievous or disobedient. Stop being bad, or you will get a spanking!
Tricky; stressful; unpleasant. Divorce is usually a bad experience for everybody involved.
Similar: foul, loathsome, abhorrant, abhorrent, bad, sickly, mean, infernal, bum, horrid, vile, demonic
childish, sometimes Evil; wicked. Be careful. There are bad people in the world.
Similar: vile, vicious, abandoned, arrant, bad, bad apple, bad seed, baleful, scurrilous, baneful, base, black-hearted
Faulty; not functional. I had a bad headlight.
Similar: inoperative, bad, borked, broken, broken-down, bum, bung, busted, cactused, crocked, dead, Donald Ducked
of food Spoiled, rotten, overripe. These apples have gone bad.
Similar: rotten, bad, gone bad, gone off, maggoted, spoiled
of breath Malodorous; foul. Bad breath is not pleasant for anyone.
Similar: bad, buckish, cacodorous, fetid, foul-smelling, funky, graveolent, malodorous, mawkish, niffy, noisome, nonaromatic
False; counterfeit; illegitimate. They were caught trying to pass bad coinage.
Similar: fake, spurious, artificial, bad, bogus, bollocks, concocted, counterfeit, ersatz, fabricated, false, falsified
Unskilled; of limited ability; not good. I'm pretty bad at speaking French.
Similar: bungling, inept, amateurish, backwards, bad, clumsy, ham-fisted, ham-handed, inapt, incapable, incompetent, ineffective
Of poor physical appearance. I look really bad whenever I get less than seven hours of sleep.
Similar: repulsive, unsightly, brendan, bad, beat, butters, butt-ugly, clapped, coyote ugly, deform, fuckfaced, fugly
of a need Severe, urgent. He is in bad need of a haircut.
Similar: dire, acute, bad, clamant, crying, sore, exigent, imperious, instant, rash, severe, pressing
Regretful, guilty, or ashamed. I feel so bad for betraying him!
of a word Vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous. Don't you dare speak to me with that bad language!
Not worth it. The expensive purse was a bad buy.
Causing a problem rendering the current task impossible. Bad device, could not connect.

adjective

informal, not comparable, of a draft/check Not covered by funds on account. He gave me a bad check.
Similar: rubber, hot

adjective badder · more bad · baddest · most bad

slang Bold, daring, and tough. He's the baddest guy in town!
Similar: badass, adventurous, mettlesome, aweless, bad, bold, brass-balled, chivalrous, courageous, daredevil, daring, dauntless
slang Good, superlative, excellent, cool. Man, that new car you bought is bad!
Similar: acceptable, agreeable, all right, amazing, as fine as Dick's hatband, awesome, beatific, bene, blissful, bodacious, bona, brilliant
US, slang Overly promiscuous, licentious. You leave your girl around me; if she's bad she's gonna get stuck.
Similar: abandoned, common, easy, fast, lascivious, lewd, liberal, libidinous, licentious, loose, lustful, lusty
slang, of a woman Very attractive; hot, sexy. Hopefully I can pull some bad bitches tonight.
slang, in "bad boy" Attractive due to (one's) rebellious nature. That boy is the baddest!

adverb worse · worst

colloquial, slang Badly; poorly. I didn't do too bad in the last exam.
Opposite: good, well
emphatic, intensifier, slang Badly; severely, extremely, passionately, eagerly. Please come back, baby. I miss you so bad!

noun bads

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.
countable, slang, uncountable, with possessive determiner Error; mistake. "My bad, My bad!” Juwan yelled, scowling
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.

interjection

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

bad^²

/bæd/ US, UK
/bæːd/ Australia
/bɛd/ New Zealand
/baːd/ Northumbria, Wales
/bɛəd/

Sounds like bade (one pronunciation) · Rhymes with -æd

Where it comes from

From Middle English bad, from Old English bæd, first- and third-person singular indicative past tense of biddan (“to ask”).

verb

alternative, archaic, past, slang alternative past of bid. See bade.

bad^³

/bæd/ US, UK
/bæːd/ Australia
/bɛd/ New Zealand
/baːd/ Northumbria, Wales
/bɛəd/

Sounds like bade (one pronunciation) · Rhymes with -æd

Where it comes from

Unknown.

verb bads · badding · badded

UK, 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:

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: unfavorable, unfit, unsatisfactory, unsound, unsuitable, incompetent, defective, no-good, unhappy, malfunctioning, immoral, unskilled, invalid, unhealthy, nonfunctional, badly

adjective

Translations

Every language

adj not suitable or fitting

Español	inapropiado
日本語	悪い warui
中文	不恰當 /不恰当 bù qiàdàng, 不合適 /不合适 bù héshì
Português	mau, errado
Français	mauvais
Deutsch	schlecht
Italiano	sbagliato
Русский	плохо́й ploxój, неподходя́щий nepodxodjáščij
עברית	גרוע garúʽa, גרועה gruʽá

adj unskilled

Français	mauvais, nul

adj bold and daring

中文	果敢 guǒgǎn
Français	fonceur
Русский	лихо́й lixój

adj severe; urgent

中文	嚴重 /严重 yánzhòng, 緊急 /紧急 jǐnjí
Français	urgent
Italiano	serio, urgente, grave, doveroso

adj unfavorable; negative

Español	malo
한국어	나쁘다 nappeuda, 나쁜 nappeun
日本語	悪い warui
中文	壞 /坏 huài, 不好 bùhǎo
हिन्दी	बुरा burā, ख़राब xarāb
Português	ruim, mau
Français	mauvais
Deutsch	schlecht, schlimm, übel
Italiano	cattivo
Ελληνικά	κακός kakós, άσχημος áschimos
Română	rău
Русский	плохо́й ploxój, скве́рный skvérnyj, пога́ный pogányj, нехоро́ший nexoróšij
Tiếng Việt	xấu, dở
العربية	سَيِّئ sayyiʔ
עברית	רַע rāʿ

adj not appropriate, of manners etc.

Español	malo
日本語	悪い warui
中文	不恰當 /不恰当 bù qiàdàng, 不合適 /不合适 bù héshì
Português	ruim, mau, feio
Français	mauvais
Deutsch	schlecht
Ελληνικά	κακός kakós
Русский	плохо́й ploxój, дурно́й durnój

adj unhealthy; liable to cause health problems

Русский	вре́дный vrédnyj

adj evil, wicked

Español	malo
日本語	悪い warui
中文	邪惡 /邪恶 xié'è
Português	mau, malvado, ruim
Français	mauvais, méchant
Deutsch	böse
Italiano	cattivo, malvagio
Ελληνικά	κακός kakós
Română	rău
Русский	плохо́й ploxój, злой zloj, по́длый pódlyj
العربية	شَرِير šarīr
עברית	רשע rashá, מרושע merushá, מרושעת merusháʽat

adj of breath: malodorous

Español	malo
日本語	悪い warui
中文	臭 chòu
Português	mau, ruim
Français	mauvaise
Deutsch	schlecht
Italiano	cattivo
Русский	плохо́й ploxój, скве́рный skvérnyj, дурно́й durnój

adj sickly; unhealthy

Español	mal

adj faulty; not functional

Español	defectuoso
日本語	悪い warui
中文	有毛病的 yǒu máobìng de, 壞 /坏 huài, 故障 gùzhàng
Português	quebrado, enguiçado, estragado
Français	défectueux
Deutsch	schlecht
Italiano	difettoso
Ελληνικά	κακός kakós
Русский	плохо́й ploxój

adj tricky; stressful; unpleasant

Español	desagradable
日本語	悪い warui
中文	困難 /困难 kùnnan, 麻煩 /麻烦 máfan
Português	mau, desagradável
Français	mauvais
Deutsch	schlecht, unangenehm
Ελληνικά	κακός kakós
Русский	плохо́й ploxój, неприя́тный neprijátnyj

noun error, mistake

Kiswahili	bozu
Français	faute, gaffe
Italiano	errore

intj to misbehaving child or pet

Deutsch	pfui

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"bad." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bad. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

APA

bad. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bad

Chicago

"bad." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bad.

BibTeX

@misc{bad_2026,
  title = {bad},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bad},
  urldate = {2026-11-05}
}

bad

AI In plain words

bad¹

Where it comes from

adjective worse · badder · more bad · worst · baddest · most bad

adjective

adjective badder · more bad · baddest · most bad

adverb worse · worst

noun bads

interjection

bad²

Where it comes from

verb

bad³

Where it comes from

verb bads · badding · badded

Thesaurus

Translations

adj not suitable or fitting

adj unskilled

adj bold and daring

adj severe; urgent

adj unfavorable; negative

adj not appropriate, of manners etc.

adj unhealthy; liable to cause health problems

adj evil, wicked

adj of breath: malodorous

adj sickly; unhealthy

adj faulty; not functional

adj tricky; stressful; unpleasant

noun error, mistake

intj to misbehaving child or pet

bad^¹

bad^²

bad^³