noun
- Something inferior in quality or condition or effect.
- usage: "for better or for worse"; "accused of cheating and lying and worse"
adjective
- Having undesirable or negative qualities.
- usage: "a bad report card"; "his sloppy appearance made a bad impression"; "a bad little boy"; "clothes in bad shape"; "a bad cut"; "bad luck"; "the news was very bad"; "the reviews were bad"; "the pay is bad"; "it was a bad light for reading"; "the movie was a bad choice"
- synonyms: bad
- Very intense.
- usage: "a bad headache"; "in a big rage"; "had a big (or bad) shock"; "a bad earthquake"; "a bad storm"
- Feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad'. )
- usage: "my throat feels bad"; "she felt bad all over"; "he was feeling tough after a restless night"
- Of foodstuffs. ( not in an edible or usable condition)
- usage: "bad meat"; "a refrigerator full of spoilt food"
- Feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone.
- usage: "felt regretful over his vanished youth"; "regretful over mistakes she had made"; "he felt bad about breaking the vase"
- Not capable of being collected.
- usage: "a bad (or uncollectible) debt"
- synonyms: bad, uncollectible
- Below average in quality or performance.
- usage: "a bad chess player"; "a bad recital"
- synonyms: bad
- Nonstandard.
- usage: "so-called bad grammar"
- synonyms: bad
- Not financially safe or secure.
- usage: "a bad investment"; "high risk investments"; "anything that promises to pay too much can't help being risky"; "speculative business enterprises"
- synonyms: bad, risky, high-risk, speculative
- Physically unsound or diseased.
- usage: "has a bad back"; "a bad heart"; "bad teeth"; "an unsound limb"; "unsound teeth"
- Capable of harming.
- usage: "bad air"; "smoking is bad for you"
- synonyms: bad
- Characterized by wickedness or immorality.
- usage: "led a very bad life"
- synonyms: bad
- Reproduced fraudulently.
- usage: "like a bad penny..."; "a forged twenty dollar bill"
- Not working properly.
- usage: "a bad telephone connection"; "a defective appliance"
- Affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function.
- usage: "ill from the monotony of his suffering"
- Resulting in suffering or adversity.
- usage: "ill effects"; "it's an ill wind that blows no good"
- synonyms: ill
- Distressing.
- usage: "ill manners"; "of ill repute"
- synonyms: ill
- Indicating hostility or enmity.
- usage: "you certainly did me an ill turn"; "ill feelings"; "ill will"
- synonyms: ill
- Presaging ill fortune.
- usage: "ill omens"; "ill predictions"; "my words with inauspicious thunderings shook heaven- P. B. Shelley; "a dead and ominous silence prevailed"; "a by-election at a time highly unpropitious for the Government"
- synonyms: ill, inauspicious, ominous
- Comparative of `bad'. ( inferior to another in quality or condition or desirability)
- usage: "this road is worse than the first one we took"; "the road is in worse shape than it was"; "she was accused of worse things than cheating and lying"
- Changed for the worse in health or fitness.
- usage: "I feel worse today"; "her cold is worse"
- synonyms: worsened
adverb
- To a severe or serious degree.
- usage: "fingers so badly frozen they had to be amputated"; "badly injured"; "a severely impaired heart"; "is gravely ill"; "was seriously ill"
- (adv.) ((`ill' is often used as a combining form) in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner; not well)
- usage: "he was ill prepared"; "it ill befits a man to betray old friends"; "the car runs badly"; "he performed badly on the exam"; "the team played poorly"; "ill-fitting clothes"; "an ill-conceived plan"
- Evilly or wickedly.
- usage: "treated his parents badly"; "to steal is to act badly"
- synonyms: badly
- In a disobedient or naughty way.
- usage: "he behaved badly in school"; "he mischievously looked for a chance to embarrass his sister"; "behaved naughtily when they had guests and was sent to his room"
- synonyms: badly, mischievously, naughtily
- With great intensity (`bad' is a nonstandard variant for `badly'. )
- usage: "the injury hurt badly"; "the buildings were badly shaken"; "it hurts bad"; "we need water bad"
- Very much; strongly.
- usage: "I wanted it badly enough to work hard for it"; "the cables had sagged badly"; "they were badly in need of help"; "he wants a bicycle so bad he can taste it"
- Without skill or in a displeasing manner.
- usage: "she writes badly"; "I think he paints very badly"
- synonyms: badly
- In a disadvantageous way; to someone's disadvantage.
- usage: "the venture turned out badly for the investors"; "angry that the case was settled disadvantageously for them"
- synonyms: badly, disadvantageously
- Unfavorably or with disapproval.
- usage: "tried not to speak ill of the dead"; "thought badly of him for his lack of concern"
- With unusual distress or resentment or regret or emotional display.
- usage: "they took their defeat badly"; "took her father's death badly"; "conducted himself very badly at the time of the earthquake"
- synonyms: badly
- Comparative of `ill'. ( in a less effective or successful or desirable manner)
- usage: "he did worse on the second exam"
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
| APA | WordNet. (2010). Worse. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/worse/definitions/1188450 |
| Chicago | WordNet. 2010. "Worse" http://smartdefine.org/worse/definitions/1188450 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | WordNet 2010, Worse, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/worse/definitions/1188450>. |
| MLA | WordNet. "Worse" 23 October 2010. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/worse/definitions/1188450> |