Bad definition

Bad as an adjective

1. having undesirable or negative qualities

   "a bad report card"

2. serious or severe

   "a bad headache"

   Same sense: big

3. feeling physical discomfort or pain (‘tough’ is occasionally used colloquially for ‘bad’)

   "my throat feels bad"

   Same sense: tough

4. (of foodstuffs) not in an edible or usable condition

   "bad meat"

   Same sense: spoiled, spoilt

5. feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone

   "he felt bad about breaking the vase"

   Same sense: sorry, regretful

6. not capable of being collected

   "a bad (or uncollectible) debt"

   Same sense: uncollectible

7. below average in quality or performance

   "a bad chess player"

8. nonstandard

   "so-called bad grammar"

9. not financially safe or secure

   "a bad investment"

   Same sense: high-risk, risky, speculative

10. physically unsound or diseased

    "has a bad back"

    Same sense: unfit, unsound

11. capable of harming

    "bad air"

12. characterized by wickedness or immorality

    "led a very bad life"

13. reproduced fraudulently

    "like a bad penny …"

    Same sense: forged

14. not working properly

    "a bad telephone connection"

    Same sense: defective

Bad as an adverb

15. with great intensity (‘bad’ is a nonstandard variant for ‘badly’)

    "the injury hurt badly"

    Same sense: badly

16. very much; strongly

    "I wanted it badly enough to work hard for it"

    Same sense: badly

Bad as a noun

17. that which is below standard or expectations as of ethics or decency

    "take the bad with the good"

    Same sense: badness

Synonyms and antonyms

• big definition
• tough
• spoiled
• spoilt
• sorry definition
• regretful
• uncollectible
• high-risk
• risky
• speculative
• unfit
• unsound
• forged
• defective
• badly
• badness

Opposite: good.

All synonyms of bad, sense by sense

How to say bad

Bad has 1 syllable and rhymes with had. Syllable counts and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary.

Words that rhyme with bad

• had
• add
• dad
• glad
• sad
• ad
• mad
• brad
• pad
• chad
• lad
• grad

All 35 words that rhyme with bad

BAD in word games

Scrabble

6

Words With Friends

7

Anagrams

1

Is BAD a valid Scrabble word? Yes, it is in the ENABLE list most word games use. Check BAD in the word checker, or unscramble BAD to see its 1 anagram and the shorter words in its letters.