1. (comparative of ‘bad’) inferior to another in quality, condition or desirability
   "she was accused of worse things than cheating and lying"; "this road is worse than the first one we took"; "the road is in worse shape than it was"
    
2. Changed for the worse in health or fitness
   "I feel worse today"; "her cold is worse";
   - worsened

1. (comparative of ‘ill’) in a less effective, successful or desirable manner
   "he did worse on the second exam"

1. Something inferior in quality, condition or effect
   "for better or for worse"; "accused of cheating and lying and worse"

1. Having undesirable or negative qualities
   "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"; "a bad report card"; "his sloppy appearance made a bad impression"
    
2. Below average in quality or performance
   "a bad chess player"; "a bad recital"
    
3. Characterized by wickedness or immorality
   "led a very bad life"
    
4. Serious or severe
   "a bad headache"; "had a bad shock"; "a bad earthquake"; "a bad storm";
   - big
    
5. Not working properly
   "a bad telephone connection";
   - defective
    
6. (of foodstuffs) not in an edible or usable condition
   "bad meat";
   - spoiled, spoilt
    
7. Physically unsound or diseased
   "has a bad back"; "a bad heart"; "bad teeth";
   - unfit, unsound
    
8. Capable of harming
   "bad air"; "smoking is bad for you"
    
9. Feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone
   "he felt bad about breaking the vase";
   - regretful, sorry
    
10. Feeling physical discomfort or pain (‘tough’ is occasionally used colloquially for ‘bad’)
    "my throat feels bad"; "she felt bad all over";
    - tough
     
11. Not financially safe or secure
    "a bad investment";
    - risky, high-risk, speculative
     
12. Not capable of being collected or recovered
    "a bad debt";
    - uncollectible
     
13. Reproduced fraudulently
    "like a bad penny …";
    - forged
     
14. (linguistics) nonstandard
    "so-called bad grammar"

Derived forms: worses

See also: abominable, atrocious, awful, corked, corky, counterfeit, crummy [informal], deplorable, dire [Brit, informal], disobedient, distressing, dreadful, evil, fearful, frightful, hard, harmful, hopeless, horrible, horrid, icky [informal], ill, imitative, incompetent, inferior, intense, invalid, lamentable, lousy [informal], malfunctioning, mediocre, naughty, negative, no-good, nonfunctional, nonstandard, painful, penitent, pitiful, pretty [informal], quality, repentant, rotten [informal], rubber, rubbish [Brit, informal], sad, sorry, stale, stinking [informal], stinky [informal], swingeing [Brit, informal], terrible, tough, uncomfortable, uncool [informal], unfavorable [US], unfavourable [Brit, Cdn], unhealthy, unhip [informal], unskilled, unsound, unspeakable, unsuitable, worsened, worst

Type of: bad, badness

Antonym: better, good

Encyclopedia: Worse