- 1unpleasant; full of problems bad news/weather/dreams/habits I'm having a really bad day. It was the worst experience of her life. Smoking gives you bad breath. Things are bad enough without our own guns shelling us.
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poor quality - 2of poor quality; below an acceptable standard bad conditions/driving a bad copy/diet I thought it was a very bad article. This isn't as bad as I thought. That's not a bad idea.
- 3bad at something/at doing something (of a person) not able to do something well or in an acceptable way synonym poor a bad teacher You're a bad liar! He's a bad loser (= he complains when he loses a game). She is so bad at keeping secrets. serious
- 4serious; severe You're heading for a bad attack of sunburn. The engagement was a bad mistake. My headache is getting worse. not appropriate
- 5[only before noun] not appropriate in a particular situation I know that this is a bad time to ask for help. He now realized that it had been a bad decision. wicked
- 6morally unacceptable The hero gets to shoot all the bad guys. He said I must have done something bad to deserve it. children
- 7[usually before noun] (especially of children) not behaving well synonym naughty Have you been a bad boy?
- 8[not before noun] bad for somebody/something harmful; causing or likely to cause damage Those shoes are bad for her feet. Weather like this is bad for business. Too much work is bad for your health. painful
- 9[usually before noun] (of parts of the body) not healthy; painful I've got a bad back. food
- 10not safe to eat because it has decayed Put the meat in the fridge so it doesn't go bad. temper/mood
- 11bad temper/mood the state of feeling annoyed or angry It put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day. guilty/sorry
- 12feel bad to feel guilty or sorry about something She felt bad about leaving him. Why should I want to make you feel bad?
- 13feel/look bad to feel or look sick I'm afraid I'm feeling pretty bad. excellent
- 14(badder, baddest) (slang) good; excellent Vocabulary Buildingbad and very bad
- Instead of saying that something is bad or very bad, try to use more precise and interesting adjectives to describe things:
- an unpleasant/a foul/a disgusting smell
- appalling/dreadful/severe weather
- an unpleasant/a frightening/a traumatic experience
- poor/weak eyesight
- a terrible/serious/horrific accident
- a wicked/an evil/an immoral person
- an awkward/an embarrassing/a difficult situation
- We were working in difficult/appalling conditions.
- To refer to your health, you can say:I feel sick/terrible I don’t feel (very) good.
- In conversation, words like terrible, horrible, and awful can be used in most situations to mean “very bad.”
unpleasant
used to try to persuade someone to agree that something is good You'll save fifty dollars, which can't be bad, can it?
to be very much in love You're not seeing him again tonight, are you? That's five times this week—you've got it bad!
quite good; better than you expected “How are you?” “Not too bad.” That wasn't bad for a first attempt.
a shame; unfortunately Too bad every day can't be as good as this.
Check pronunciation: bad