Bad (English) - Vocabulary & GRE App

Direct Cross-Language Association: “bad” in German

This word also exists in German! Meaning: “singular imperative of baden”

View German Entry →

bad

EN • English

//bæd//

Direct German Translations & Equivalents:

Click any term below to jump straight to its full vocabulary entry in German:

[DE]pfui

Verb Conjugation Tables & Inflections

Key Verb Forms & Inflections

Third-person singular (he/she/it):bads

Present Participle (-ing):badding

Past Participle:badded

Simple Past:badded

Definitions & Usage

adjective

Of low quality.

Example: “That movie was really bad!”

Synonyms:

cruddy lousy shoddy ass base below par bottom-shelf BTEC

adjective

Inaccurate; incorrect

Example: “A bad guess.”

Example: “This sentence has bad grammar!”

Synonyms:

abandoned abominable base corrupt deficient detestable disgusting inferior

adjective

Unfavorable; negative; not good.

Example: “Hiring practice is very bad in this company.”

Example: “The weather looks pretty bad right now.”

Synonyms:

unfavorable negative abandoned abominable base corrupt deficient detestable

adjective

Not suitable or fitting.

Example: “Do you think it is a bad idea to confront him directly?”

Synonyms:

inappropriate unfit discommensurate improper inapt incommensurate inept inopportune

adjective

Not appropriate, of manners etc.

Example: “It is bad manners to talk with your mouth full.”

Synonyms:

abandoned abominable base corrupt deficient detestable disgusting inferior

adjective

Harmful, especially unhealthy; liable to cause health problems.

Example: “Lard is bad for you. Smoking is bad for you, too. Grapes are bad for dogs but not for humans.”

Synonyms:

unhealthful unwholesome harmful damaging deleterious detrimental hurtful inimical

adjective

(chiefly applied to a person's state of health) Sickly, unhealthy, unwell.

Example: “Joe's in a bad way; he can't even get out of bed.”

Example: “I went to the hospital to see how my grandfather was doing. Unfortunately, he's in a bad state.”

Synonyms:

ill poorly sickly ailing crank crook green about the gills icky

adjective

The injured or weak one of a pair of body parts, where the other one is healthy.

Example: “I accidentally put my weight on my bad leg and fell over.”

Synonyms:

abandoned abominable base corrupt deficient detestable disgusting inferior

adjective

(often childish) Not behaving; behaving badly; misbehaving; mischievous or disobedient.

Example: “Stop being bad, or you will get a spanking!”

Synonyms:

abandoned abominable base corrupt deficient detestable disgusting inferior

adjective

#10

Tricky; stressful; unpleasant.

Example: “Divorce is usually a bad experience for everybody involved.”

Synonyms:

foul loathsome abhorrant abhorrent bum vile demonic disagreeable

adjective

#11

(sometimes childish) Evil; wicked.

Example: “Be careful. There are bad people in the world.”

Synonyms:

vile vicious abandoned arrant bad apple bad seed baleful scurrilous

adjective

#12

Faulty; not functional.

Example: “I had a bad headlight.”

Synonyms:

inoperative borked broken broken-down bum bung busted cactused

adjective

#13

(of food) Spoiled, rotten, overripe.

Example: “These apples have gone bad.”

Synonyms:

rotten gone bad gone off maggoted spoiled abandoned abominable base

adjective

#14

(of breath) Malodorous; foul.

Example: “Bad breath is not pleasant for anyone.”

Synonyms:

buckish cacodorous fetid foul-smelling funky graveolent malodorous mawkish

adjective

#15

False; counterfeit; illegitimate.

Example: “They were caught trying to pass bad coinage.”

Synonyms:

fake spurious artificial bogus bollocks concocted counterfeit ersatz

adjective

#16

Unskilled; of limited ability; not good.

Example: “I'm pretty bad at speaking French.”

Example: “He's a bad gardener; everything he tries to grow ends up dying.”

Synonyms:

bungling inept amateurish backwards clumsy ham-fisted ham-handed inapt

adjective

#17

Of poor physical appearance.

Example: “I look really bad whenever I get less than seven hours of sleep.”

Example: “I don't look bad in this dress, do I?”

Synonyms:

repulsive unsightly beat butters butt-ugly clapped coyote ugly deform

adjective

#18

(of a need, want, or pain) Severe, urgent.

Example: “He is in bad need of a haircut.”

Synonyms:

dire acute clamant crying sore exigent imperious instant

adjective

#19

(preceded by feel) Regretful, guilty, or ashamed.

Example: “I feel so bad for betraying him!”

Synonyms:

abandoned abominable base corrupt deficient detestable disgusting inferior

adjective

#20

(of a word, speech, or writing) Vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous.

Example: “Don't you dare speak to me with that bad language!”

Synonyms:

abandoned abominable base corrupt deficient detestable disgusting inferior

adjective

#21

Not worth it.

Example: “The expensive purse was a bad buy.”

Synonyms:

abandoned abominable base corrupt deficient detestable disgusting inferior

adjective

#22

(informal, of a draft/check) Not covered by funds on account.

Example: “He gave me a bad check.”

Synonyms:

rubber hot abysmal atrocious awful chronic coarse corny

adjective

#23

Bold, daring, and tough.

Example: “He's the baddest guy in town!”

Synonyms:

badass adventurous mettlesome aweless bold brass-balled chivalrous courageous

adjective

#24

(semantic change, amelioration, contranymic) Good, superlative, excellent, cool.

Example: “Man, that new car you bought is bad!”

Example: “You is bad, man!”

Synonyms:

acceptable agreeable all right amazing as fine as Dick's hatband awesome beatific bene

adjective

#25

(US) Overly promiscuous, licentious.

Synonyms:

abandoned common easy fast lascivious lewd liberal libidinous

adjective

#26

(originally African-American Vernacular, of a woman) Very attractive; hot, sexy.

Example: “Hopefully I can pull some bad bitches tonight.”

Synonyms:

abysmal atrocious awful chronic coarse corny crap crapalicious

adjective

#27

(Internet slang, sarcastic) Used without a copula to mock people who oppose something without having any real understanding of it.

Example: “Orange Man bad”

Synonyms:

abysmal atrocious awful chronic coarse corny crap crapalicious

adjective

#28

(chiefly in "bad boy", "bad girl", and similar phrases) Attractive due to (one's) rebellious nature.

Example: “That boy is the baddest!”

Example: “She's the baddest girl!”

Synonyms:

abysmal atrocious awful chronic coarse corny crap crapalicious

adverb

#29

(now colloquial) Badly; poorly.

Example: “I didn't do too bad in the last exam.”

Example: “He is quite bad off now that both his parents lost their jobs.”

adverb

#30

(intensifier) Badly; severely, extremely, passionately, eagerly.

Example: “Please come back, baby. I miss you so bad!”

noun

#31

Something that is bad; a harm or evil.

noun

#32

(slang, with possessive determiner) Error; mistake.

Translations:

noun

#33

(countable, uncountable, economics) An item (or kind of item) of merchandise with negative value; an unwanted good.

interjection

#34

Used to scold a misbehaving child or pet.

Example: “Bad! You know you're not allowed in the kitchen after dinner.”

Translations:[DE]pfui

verb

#35

(archaic) alternative past of bid. See bade.

verb

#36

(British, dialect, transitive) To shell (a walnut).

Example: “A curious specimen of Gloucestershire dialect came out in an assault case heard by the Gloucester court magistrates on Saturday. One of the witnesses, speaking of what a girl was doing at the time the assault took place, said she was ‘badding’ walnuts in a pigstye. The word is peculiarly provincial: to ‘bad’ walnuts is to strip away the husk. The walnut, too, is often called a ‘bannut,’ and hence the old Gloucestershire phrase, ‘Come an’ bad the bannuts.’”

Notable Literary & Historical Quotes

“He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.”

— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

““[…] if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […]””

— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

“I can tell that new kid at our daycare is trouble […] He's picking out his favorite corner to stand in when he's bad.”

— 2014 August 28, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):