Bad

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (usu participle), Adverb

CIDE DICTIONARY

Bad, imp. 

 Bade.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]

Bad, a. [Probably fr. AS. bæddel hermaphrodite; cf. bædling effeminate fellow.].

 Wanting good qualities, whether physical or moral; injurious, hurtful, inconvenient, offensive, painful, unfavorable, or defective, either physically or morally; evil; vicious; wicked; -- the opposite of good; as, a bad man; bad conduct; bad habits; bad soil; bad air; bad health; a bad crop; bad news.
" Sometimes used substantively."  [1913 Webster]
"The strong antipathy of good to bad."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Pernicious; deleterious; noxious; baneful; injurious; hurtful; evil; vile; wretched; corrupt; wicked; vicious; imperfect.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Bad, adj., n., & adv.
--adj. (worse; worst)
1 inferior, inadequate, defective (bad work; a bad driver; bad light).
2 a unpleasant, unwelcome (bad weather; bad news). b unsatisfactory, unfortunate (a bad business).
3 harmful (is bad for you).
4 (of food) decayed, putrid.
5 colloq. ill, injured (am feeling bad today; a bad leg).
6 colloq. regretful, guilty, ashamed (feels bad about it).
7 (of an unwelcome thing) serious, severe (a bad headache; a bad mistake).
8 a morally wicked or offensive (a bad man; bad language). b naughty; badly behaved (a bad child).
9 worthless; not valid (a bad cheque).
10 (badder, baddest) esp. US sl. good, excellent.
--n.
1 a ill fortune (take the bad with the good). b ruin; a degenerate condition (go to the bad).
2 the debit side of an account ({pound}500 to the bad).
3 (as pl.; prec. by the) bad or wicked people.
--adv. US colloq. badly (took it bad).

Idiom

bad blood ill feeling. bad books see BOOK. bad breath unpleasant-smelling breath. bad debt a debt that is not recoverable. bad egg see EGG(1). bad faith see FAITH. bad form see FORM. a bad job colloq. an unfortunate state of affairs. bad mouth US malicious gossip or criticism. bad-mouth v.tr. US subject to malicious gossip or criticism. bad news colloq. an unpleasant or troublesome person or thing. from bad to worse into an even worse state. in a bad way ill; in trouble (looked in a bad way). not (or not so) bad colloq. fairly good. too bad colloq. (of circumstances etc.) regrettable but now beyond retrieval.

Derivative

baddish adj. badness n.

Etymology

ME, perh. f. OE b{aelig}ddel hermaphrodite, womanish man: for loss of l cf. MUCH, WENCH

THESAURUS

Bad

OK, abhorrent, abominable, abomination, ace-high, ailing, alarming, amiss, apocalyptic, arrant, atrocious, atrocity, bad for, bad-smelling, badly, baleful, bane, baneful, bang-up, barfy, base, befoulment, below par, black, blamable, blameworthy, blight, blue, bodeful, boding, bonzer, boss, brackish, bully, bum, but good, cankered, careless, carious, castrated, cloying, contaminated, cool, corking, corrupt, corruption, crackerjack, crappy, crestfallen, criminal, crippled, critical, critically ill, crying evil, damage, damaging, damnable, dandy, dangerous, dangersome, dark, decayed, decomposed, defective, deficient, defilement, dejected, deleterious, delicious, depressed, despaired of, despoliation, destruction, detriment, detrimental, dire, disabled, disagreeable, disconsolate, diseased, disgrace, disgraceful, disgusting, disordered, disorderly, dispirited, displeasing, disruptive, dissatisfactory, distasteful, distressing, done for, doomful, down, downhearted, dreary, ducky, dying, emasculated, error, evil, evil-starred, evilly, execrable, expiring, explosive, fab, facing death, faint, faintish, fateful, fecal, feeling awful, feeling faint, feeling something terrible, festering, fetid, fine and dandy, flagitious, flagrant, foreboding, foul, fraught with danger, froward, frowsty, frowy, frowzy, fulsome, funky, fusty, futile, game, gamy, gangrened, gangrenous, gear, given up, gloomy, going, gone bad, graceless, graveolent, great, grievance, groovy, halt, halting, hamstrung, handicapped, harm, harmful, hateful, havoc, heavy, heinous, high, hobbling, hopeless, hot, hunky-dory, hurt, hurtful, icky, ill, ill-advised, ill-behaved, ill-boding, ill-considered, ill-fated, ill-omened, ill-smelling, ill-starred, ill-suited, ill-timed, immoral, impolitic, improper, in articulo mortis, in danger, in extremis, inaccurate, inadequate, inadmissible, inadvisable, inappropriate, inapt, inauspicious, incapable of life, incapacitated, incongruous, indecorous, indisposed, inept, inexpedient, infamous, infamy, infected, infection, infelicitous, inferior, iniquitous, iniquity, injurious, injury, inopportune, insalubrious, insanitary, insufferable, intolerable, invalid, jam-up, jeopardous, just dandy, keen, knavery, knavish, laid low, lame, limping, loathsome, lousy, low, lowering, maggoty, maimed, mal a propos, malapropos, malevolent, malodorous, marvy, mawkish, mean, menacing, mephitic, miasmal, miasmic, mildewed, mildewy, misbehaving, mischief, mischievous, miserable, moldy, monstrous, morbid, morbific, moribund, mortally ill, mortified, moth-eaten, musty, nasty, naughty, nauseant, nauseating, nauseous, near death, neat, necrosed, necrotic, nefarious, nidorous, nifty, nobby, noisome, nonviable, not quite right, not respectable, noxious, null and void, objectionable, obliquity, obnoxious, odorous, of evil portent, off, off-base, off-color, offensive, okay, olid, ominous, out of place, out of sight, out of sorts, out-of-line, outrage, overripe, parlous, pathogenic, pathological, paw, peachy, peachy-keen, peccancy, peccant, periculous, perilous, perverse, pestiferous, poison, poisoned, poisonous, polluted, pollution, poor, portending, portentous, punk, putrefied, putrescent, putrid, rancid, rank, reasty, reasy, rebarbative, reechy, reeking, reeky, reprehensible, reprobacy, reprobate, repulsive, ripping, rocky, rotten, rotting, rough, rowdy, rowdyish, ruffianly, rum, scandal, scandalous, scrumptious, seedy, septic, serious, shame, shameful, sick, sick unto death, sickening, sickish, sin, sinful, sinister, sinking, slap-up, slipping, slipping away, slipshod, smashing, smellful, smelling, smelly, solid, somber, something else, sour, spavined, sphacelated, spiffing, spiffy, spoiled, stale, stenchy, sticky, stinking, strong, stuffy, stunning, sulfurous, suppurating, suppurative, swell, tainted, taken ill, terminal, thankless, the worst, threatening, tough, toxin, turned, ugly, ulcerated, ulcerous, unacceptable, unbefitting, unbehaving, under the weather, undesirable, uneasy, unfavorable, unfit, unfitting, unforgivable, unfortunate, ungracious, ungrateful, unhandsome, unhappy, unhealthful, unhealthy, unhygienic, unkind, unlucky, unmeet, unpardonable, unpleasant, unprofitable, unpromising, unpropitious, unruly, unsanitary, unsatisfactory, unseasonable, unseemly, unskillful, unsound, unspeakable, unsuitable, untimely, untoward, unwell, unwholesome, unwise, unworthy, venom, vexation, vicious, vile, villainous, villainy, void, vomity, weevily, wicked, wizard, woe, woebegone, worm-eaten, wretched, wrong, wrongly, yucky

ROGET THESAURUS

Bad

Evil

N evil, ill, harm, hurt, mischief, nuisance, machinations of the devil, Pandora's box, ills that flesh is heir to, blow, buffet, stroke, scratch, bruise, wound, gash, mutilation, mortal blow, wound, immedicabile vulnus, damage, loss, disadvantage, prejudice, drawback, disaster, accident, casualty, mishap, bad job, devil to pay, calamity, bale, catastrophe, tragedy, ruin, adversity, mental suffering, demon, (Evil spirit) bane, (cause of evil), badness, (Production of Evil), painfulness, evil doer, outrage, wrong, injury, foul play, bad turn, ill turn, disservice, spoliation, grievance, crying evil, disastrous, bad, awry, out of joint, disadvantageous, amis, wrong, ill, to one's cost, moving accidents by flood and field.

Badness

N badness, hurtfulness, virulence, evil doer, bane, plague spot, evil star, ill wind, hoodoo, Jonah, snake in the grass, skeleton in the closet, amari aliquid, thorn in the side, malignity, malevolence, tender mercies, ill-treatment, annoyance, molestation, abuse, oppression, persecution, outrage, misusage, injury, knockout drops, badness, peccancy, abomination, painfulness, pestilence, guilt, depravity, hurtful, harmful, scathful, baneful, baleful, injurious, deleterious, detrimental, noxious, pernicious, mischievous, full of mischief, mischief-making, malefic, malignant, nocuous, noisome, prejudicial, disserviceable, disadvantageous, wide-wasting, unlucky, sinister, obnoxious, untoward, disastrous, oppressive, burdensome, onerous, malign, corrupting &c (corrupt), virulent, venomous, envenomed, corrosive, poisonous, deadly, destructive, inauspicious, bad, ill, arrant, as bad as bad can be, dreadful, horrid, horrible, dire, rank, peccant, foul, fulsome, rotten, rotten at the core, vile, base, villainous, mean, injured, deteriorated, unsatisfactory, exceptionable indifferent, below par, illcontrived, ill-conditioned, wretched, sad, grievous, deplorable, lamentable, pitiful, pitiable, woeful, evil, wrong, depraved, shocking, reprehensible, hateful, hateful as a toad, abominable, detestable, execrable, cursed, accursed, confounded, damned, damnable, infernal, diabolic, unadvisable, unprofitable, incompetent, irremediable, badly, wrong, ill, to one's cost, where the shoe pinches, bad is the best: the worst come to the worst, herba mala presto cresco, wrongs unredressed or insults unavenged.

Uncleanness

N uncleanness, impurity, immundity, immundicity, impurity, defilement, contamination, defoedation, soilure, soiliness, abomination, leaven, taint, tainture, fetor, decay, putrescence, putrefaction, corruption, mold, must, mildew, dry rot, mucor, rubigo, slovenry, slovenliness, squalor, dowdy, drab, slut, malkin, slattern, sloven, slammerkin, slammock, slummock, scrub, draggle-tail, mudlark, dust-man, sweep, beast, dirt, filth, soil, slop, dust, cobweb, flue, smoke, soot, smudge, smut, grit, grime, raff, sossle, sozzle, sordes, dregs, grounds, lees, argol, sediment, settlement heeltap, dross, drossiness, mother, precipitate, scoriae, ashes, cinders, recrement, slag, scum, froth, hogwash, ditchwater, dishwater, bilgewater, rinsings, cheeseparings, sweepings, offscourings, outscourings, off scum, caput mortuum, residuum, sprue, fecula, clinker, draff, scurf, scurfiness, exuviae, morphea, fur, furfur, dandruff, tartar, riffraff, vermin, louse, flea, bug, chinch, mud, mire, quagmire, alluvium, silt, sludge, slime, slush, slosh, sposh, spawn, offal, gurry, lientery, garbage, carrion, excreta, slough, peccant humor, pus, matter, suppuration, lienteria, faeces, feces, excrement, ordure, dung, crap, shit, sewage, sewerage, muck, coprolite, guano, manure, compost, dunghill, colluvies, mixen, midden, bog, laystall, sink, privy, jakes, toilet, john, head, cess, cesspool, sump, sough, cloaca, latrines, drain, sewer, common sewer, Cloacina, dust hole, sty, pigsty, lair, den, Augean stable, sink of corruption, slum, rookery, dirty, filthy, grimy, unclean, impure, soiled, not to be handled with kid gloves, dusty, snuffy, smutty, sooty, smoky, thick, turbid, dreggy, slimy, mussy, slovenly, untidy, messy, uncleanly, unkempt, sluttish, dowdy, draggle-tailed, uncombed, unscoured, unswept, unwiped, unwashed, unstrained, unpurified, squalid, lutose, slammocky, slummocky, sozzly, nasty, coarse, foul, offensive, abominable, beastly, reeky, reechy, fetid, decayed, moldy, musty, mildewed, rusty, moth-eaten, mucid, rancid, weak, bad, gone bad, etercoral, lentiginous, touched, fusty, effete, reasty, rotten, corrupt, tainted, high, flyblown, maggoty, putrid, putrefactive, putrescent, putrefied, saprogenic, saprogenous, purulent, carious, peccant, fecal, feculent, stercoraceous, excrementitious, scurfy, scurvy, impetiginous, gory, bloody, rotting, rotten as a pear, rotten as cheese, crapulous, gross, fimetarious, fimicolous, they that touch pitch will be defiled.

Wrong

N wrong, what ought not to be, what should not be, malum in se, unreasonableness, grievance, shame, injustice, tort, unfairness, iniquity, foul play, partiality, leaning, bias, favor, favoritism, nepotism, party spirit, partisanship, bigotry, undueness, wrongdoing (vice), unlawfulness, robbing Peter to pay Paul, the wolf and the lamb, vice, a custom more honored in the breach than the obser, wrong, wrongful, bad, too bad, unjust, unfair, inequitable, unequitable, unequal, partial, one-sided, injurious, tortious, objectionable, unreasonable, unallowable, unwarrantable, unjustifiable, improper, unfit, unjustified, illegal, iniquitous, immoral, in the wrong, in the wrong box, wrongly, it will not do.

Disapprobation

N disapprobation, disapproval, improbation, disesteem, disvaluation, displacency, odium, dislike, dispraise, discommendation, blame, censure, obloquy, detraction, disparagement, depreciation, denunciation, condemnation, ostracism, black list, animadversion, reflection, stricture, objection, exception, criticism, sardonic grin, sardonic laugh, sarcasm, insinuation, innuendo, bad compliment, poor compliment, left-handed compliment, satire, sneer, taunt, cavil, carping, censoriousness, hypercriticism, reprehension, remonstrance, expostulation, reproof, reprobation, admonition, increpation, reproach, rebuke, reprimand, castigation, jobation, lecture, curtain lecture, blow up, wigging, dressing, rating, scolding, trimming, correction, set down, rap on the knuckles, coup de bec, rebuff, slap, slap on the face, home thrust, hit, frown, scowl, black look, diatribe, jeremiad, jeremiade, tirade, philippic, clamor, outcry, hue and cry, hiss, hissing, sibilance, sibilation, catcall, execration, chiding, upbraiding, exprobation, abuse, vituperation, invective, objurgation, contumely, hard words, cutting words, bitter words, evil-speaking, bad language, personality, disapproving, scandalized, disparaging, condemnatory, damnatory, denunciatory, reproachful, abusive, objurgatory, clamorous, vituperative, defamatory, satirical, sarcastic, sardonic, cynical, dry, sharp, cutting, biting, severe, withering, trenchant, hard upon, censorious, critical, captious, carping, hypercritical, fastidious, sparing of praise, grudging praise, disapproved, chid, in bad odor, blown upon, unapproved, unblest, at a discount, exploded, weighed in the balance and found wanting, blameworthy, reprehensible, to blame, worthy of blame, answerable, uncommendable, exceptionable, not to be thought of, bad, vicious, unlamented, unbewailed, unpitied, with a wry face, reproachfully, Int, it is too bad!, it won't do, it will never do!, marry come up!, Oh!, come!, 'sdeath!, forbid it Heaven!, God forbid, Heaven forbid!, out upon, fie upon it!, away with!, tut!, O tempora!, O mores!, shame!, fie, fie for shame!, out on you!, tell it not in Gath!.

Fetor

N fetor, bad, smell, bad odor, stench, stink, foul odor, malodor, empyreuma, mustiness, rancidity, foulness, stoat, polecat, skunk, assafoetida, fungus, garlic, stinkpot, fitchet, fitchew, fourmart, peccary, acridity, fetid, strong-smelling, high, bad, strong, fulsome, offensive, noisome, rank, rancid, reasty, tainted, musty, fusty, frouzy, olid, olidous, nidorous, smelling, stinking, putrid, suffocating, mephitic, empyreumatic, fetor, bad, smell, bad odor, stench, stink, foul odor, malodor, empyreuma, mustiness, rancidity, foulness, stoat, polecat, skunk, assafoetida, fungus, garlic, stinkpot, fitchet, fitchew, fourmart, peccary, acridity, fetid, strong-smelling, high, bad, strong, fulsome, offensive, noisome, rank, rancid, reasty, tainted, musty, fusty, frouzy, olid, olidous, nidorous, smelling, stinking, putrid, suffocating, mephitic, empyreumatic.