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not bad

adjective, worse, worst; (Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36.

not good in any manner or degree.
having a wicked or evil character; morally reprehensible: There is no such thing as a bad boy.
of poor or inferior quality; defective; deficient: a bad diamond; a bad spark plug.
inadequate or below standard; not satisfactory for use: bad heating; Living conditions in some areas are very bad.
inaccurate, incorrect, or faulty: a bad guess.
invalid, unsound, or false: a bad insurance claim; bad judgment.
causing or liable to cause sickness or ill health; injurious or harmful: Too much sugar is bad for your teeth.
suffering from sickness, ill health, pain, or injury; sick; ill: He felt bad from eating the green apples.
not healthy or in good physical condition; diseased, decayed, or physically weakened: A bad heart kept him out of the army.
tainted, spoiled, or rotten, especially to the point of being inedible: The meat is bad because you left it out of the refrigerator too long.
having a disastrous or detrimental effect, result, or tendency; unfavorable: The drought is bad for the farmers. His sloppy appearance made a bad impression.
causing or characterized by discomfort, inconvenience, uneasiness, or annoyance; disagreeable; unpleasant: I had a bad flight to Chicago.
easily provoked to anger; irascible: a bad temper.
cross, irritable, or surly: If I don’t have my morning coffee, I’m in a bad mood all day.
more uncomfortable, persistent, painful, or dangerous than usual; severe: a bad attack of asthma.
causing or resulting in disaster or severe damage or destruction: a bad flood.
regretful, contrite, dejected, or upset: He felt bad about having to leave the children all alone.
disobedient, naughty, or misbehaving: If you’re bad at school, you’ll go to bed without supper.
disreputable or dishonorable: He’s getting a bad name from changing jobs so often.
displaying a lack of skill, talent, proficiency, or judgment: a bad painting; Bad drivers cause most of the accidents.
causing distress; unfortunate or unfavorable: I’m afraid I have bad news for you.
not suitable or appropriate; disadvantageous or dangerous: It was a bad day for fishing.
inclement; considered too stormy, hot, cold, etc.: We had a bad winter with a lot of snow.
disagreeable or offensive to the senses: a bad odor.
exhibiting a lack of artistic sensitivity: The room was decorated in bad taste.
not in keeping with a standard of behavior or conduct; coarse: bad manners.
(of a word, speech, or writing)
1. vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous: bad language.
2. not properly observing rules or customs of grammar, usage, spelling, etc.; incorrect: He speaks bad English.
unattractive, especially because of a lack of pleasing proportions: She has a bad figure.
(of the complexion) marred by defects; pockmarked or pimply; blemished: bad skin.
not profitable or worth the price paid: The land was a bad buy.
Commerce. deemed uncollectible or irrecoverable and treated as a loss: a bad debt.
ill-spent; wasted: Don’t throw good money after bad money.
counterfeit; not genuine: There was a bad ten-dollar bill in with the change.
having the character of a villain; villainous: In the movies the good guys always beat the bad guys.
Sports. failing to land within the in-bounds limits of a court or section of a court; missing the mark; not well aimed.
Slang. outstandingly excellent; first-rate: He’s a bad man on drums, and the fans love him.

noun

that which is bad: You have to take the bad with the good.
a bad condition, character, or quality: His health seemed to go from bad to worse.
(used with a plural verb) evil persons collectively (usually preceded by the): The bad are always stirring up trouble.

adverb Informal.

badly: He wanted it bad enough to steal it.

Idioms

bad off, in poor or distressed condition or circumstances; destitute: His family has been pretty bad off since he lost his job.Also badly off.Compare well-off.
go to the bad, to deteriorate physically or morally; go to ruin: She wept at seeing her son go to the bad.
in a bad way, in severe trouble or distress.
in bad, Informal.
1. in trouble or distress.
2. in disfavor: He’s in bad with his father-in-law.
my bad, Slang. my fault! my mistake!
not bad,
1. tolerably good; not without merit: The dinner wasn’t bad, but I’ve had better.
2. not difficult: Once you know geometry, trigonometry isn’t bad.
Also not so bad, not too bad.
too bad, unfortunate or disappointing: It’s too bad that he didn’t go to college.
to the bad, in arrears: He’s $100 to the bad on his debt.

adjective worse or worst

not good; of poor quality; inadequate; inferiorbad workmanship; bad soil; bad light for reading
(often foll by at) lacking skill or talent; incompetenta bad painter; bad at sports
(often foll by for) harmfulbad air; smoking is bad for you
immoral; evila bad life
naughty; mischievous; disobedienta bad child
rotten; decayed; spoileda bad egg
severe; intensea bad headache
incorrect; wrong; faultybad pronunciation
ill or in pain (esp in the phrase feel bad)
regretful, sorry, or upset (esp in the phrase feel bad about)
unfavourable; distressingbad news; a bad business
offensive; unpleasant; disagreeablebad language; bad temper
not valid or sound; voida bad cheque
not recoverablea bad debt
badder or baddest slang good; excellent
go from bad to worse to deteriorate even more
go bad to putrefy; spoil
in a bad way informal
1. seriously ill, through sickness or injury
2. in trouble of any kind
in someone’s bad books See book (def. 21)
make the best of a bad job to manage as well as possible in unfavourable circumstances
not bad or not so bad informal passable; fair; fairly good
not half bad informal very good
too bad informal (often used dismissively) regrettable

noun

unfortunate or unpleasant events collectively (often in the phrase take the bad with the good)
an immoral or degenerate state (often in the phrase go to the bad)
the debit side of an account£200 to the bad
my bad US and Canadian informal my fault or mistake

adverb

not standard badlyto want something bad

verb

a variant of bade

adj.c.1200, “inferior in quality;” early 13c., “wicked, evil, vicious,” a mystery word with no apparent relatives in other languages.* Possibly from Old English derogatory term bæddel and its diminutive bædling “effeminate man, hermaphrodite, pederast,” probably related to bædan “to defile.” A rare word before 1400, and evil was more common in this sense until c.1700. Meaning “uncomfortable, sorry” is 1839, American English colloquial. Comparable words in the other Indo-European languages tend to have grown from descriptions of specific qualities, such as “ugly,” “defective,” “weak,” “faithless,” “impudent,” “crooked,” “filthy” (e.g. Greek kakos, probably from the word for “excrement;” Russian plochoj, related to Old Church Slavonic plachu “wavering, timid;” Persian gast, Old Persian gasta-, related to gand “stench;” German schlecht, originally “level, straight, smooth,” whence “simple, ordinary,” then “bad”). Comparative and superlative forms badder, baddest were common 14c.-18c. and used as recently as Defoe (but not by Shakespeare), but yielded to comparative worse and superlative worst (which had belonged to evil and ill). As a noun, late 14c., “evil, wickedness.” In U.S. place names, sometimes translating native terms meaning “supernaturally dangerous.” Ironic use as a word of approval is said to be at least since 1890s orally, originally in Black English, emerging in print 1928 in a jazz context. It might have emerged from the ambivalence of expressions like bad nigger, used as a term of reproach by whites, but among blacks sometimes representing one who stood up to injustice, but in the U.S. West bad man also had a certain ambivalence: These are the men who do most of the killing in frontier communities, yet it is a noteworthy fact that the men who are killed generally deserve their fate. [Farmer & Henley] *Farsi has bad in more or less the same sense as the English word, but this is regarded by linguists as a coincidence. The forms of the words diverge as they are traced back in time (Farsi bad comes from Middle Persian vat), and such accidental convergences exist across many languages, given the vast number of words in each and the limited range of sounds humans can make to signify them. Among other coincidental matches with English are Korean mani “many,” Chinese pei “pay,” Nahuatl (Aztecan) huel “well,” Maya hol “hole.” Also, not half bad; not so or too bad; not too shabby. Fairly good, as in Not bad, said the conductor, but we need to play the scherzo again, or The movie wasn’t half bad, but Jerry wanted to go home, or Our garden’s not too bad this year, or How are things going?—Not too shabby. All of the terms involving bad, which imply that something is less bad than it might be, date from the mid-1700s. The last variant, using shabby in the sense of “inferior,” is slang of the late 1900s. In addition to the idioms beginning with bad

bad blood

bad egg

bad hair day

bad luck

badly off

bad mouth

bad name

bad news

bad off

bad sort, a

bad taste

bad time

bad trip

also see:

come to an end (bad end)

feel bad

from bad to worse

get off on the wrong foot (to a bad start)

give a bad name

give bad marks to

go bad

in a bad mood

in a bad way

in bad faith

in bad with someone

in someone’s bad graces

leave a bad taste in one’s mouth

make the best of (a bad bargain)

not a bad sort

not bad

poor (bad) taste

run of (bad) luck

too bad

turn up (like a bad penny)

with bad grace