What does “bad” mean?
- 1
adjectivenot good or not pleasant
We had bad weather all week.
- 2
adjectiveserious or severe
She has a bad cold.
- 3
adjectivenot good at something
I’m bad at remembering names.
Bad at a glance
- Part of speech
- adjective
- CEFR level
- A1 (beginner)
- Pronunciation
- /bæd/ · BAD
- Forms
- worse, worst
How to use “bad” correctly
The comparative is irregular: “bad, worse, worst”. Use “badly” as the adverb: “He played badly.”
Common phrases with “bad”
- bad news
- too bad
- bad at sth
- go bad
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Antonyms (opposite meaning)
Word family
- badly
Idioms with “bad”
- A bad apple: One bad person who has a bad effect on the rest of a group.
“bad” is on these word lists
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