break bad
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
break bad
- /bɹeɪk bæd/
- /bɹæɪ̯k bæːd/ Australia
verb breaks bad · breaking bad · broke bad · broken bad
- To go wrong; to go downhill. "A woman came out from the East—Vermont, it was—and school-teaching was her line of business, only she hadn't been raised to it, and this was her first clatter at the game; but things had broke bad for her people, and ended in her pulling stakes and coming West all alone.
-
To go bad; to turn toward immorality or crime.
But somehow he broke bad when he was just a yearling boy, started running around at night with a bad crowd, drinking beer and wine, and fighting and getting in all kinds of trouble and wouldn't go to school.
Similar: go bad, go astray · Opposite: turn over a new leaf
Translations
Every language
verb to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime
| Español | irse cuesta abajo, descarriarse, desvirtuarse, echarse a perder |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 道を外す michi o hazusu |
| 中文 | 變壞 /变坏 biànhuài |
| Português | chutar o balde |
| Français | mal tourner |
| Deutsch | auf die schiefe Bahn geraten |
| Русский | пусти́ться во все тя́жкие pustítʹsja vo vse tjážkije, сби́ться с пути́ sbítʹsja s putí, испо́ртиться ispórtitʹsja |
Talk about this word "break bad." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/break%20bad. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. break bad. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/break%20bad "break bad." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/break%20bad.Cite this
@misc{break_bad_2026,
title = {break bad},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/break%20bad},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
