bad
Usage
What are other ways to say bad?
When describing things that are lacking in moral qualities or are actually vicious and reprehensible, bad is the broadest and simplest term: a bad man; bad habits. Evil applies to that which violates or leads to the violation of moral law: evil practices. Ill now appears mainly in certain fixed expressions, with a milder implication than that in evil: ill will; ill-natured. Wicked implies willful and determined doing of what is very wrong: a wicked plan.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Bills had a bad start last week but a strong finish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
But when a formative trauma is provided to a character who was supposed to be born bad, it simply feels like Ms. Kazan ran out of daring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
"Not bad for a bright, Hertfordshire girl born during the early stages of the Second World War."
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
He steers clear of healthcare providers or nursing homes catering to aging populations — “basically a fast-maturing and bad hedge to inflation” that won’t easily pass on rising costs to those residents.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
Ma, who had always been so deferential, so gentle, had found a way out of a bad situation and had executed it.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
It was Sri Lanka's lowest total in a men's T20 international, worse than the 77 they scored against South Africa in New York in 2024.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
The heads of frontier labs have said their companies could be responsible for such a mass tort, or worse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Instead of getting better, I got much worse.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
"That gets worse in the summer when the water is moving slowly, and some of that is historic, but also a contemporary misdirecting of sewage into storm drains."
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
This one reeked even worse than the other: the straw seemed to be fermenting.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
The cites worst affected Wednesday included Paris, Bordeaux in the southwest and Lyon in the southeast, and the northern city of Lille where police again used tear gas in clashes, AFP correspondents said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
“Canadians are assuming the worst, hoping for the best,” said Bricker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
You write that he “makes people feel good about themselves by telling them it’s okay to be the worst version of themselves.”
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2026
Brentford Community Boathouse events officer Kelly Everden, who volunteered on a clean-up operation organised by Keane, said the children who used the canal were worst affected.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
I said, surprising myself because I thought it was the worst thing I could say, but it was true.
From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott
Vocabulary lists containing bad
