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bad

Pronunciation: /bæd/

The English word “bad” has 20 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Of low quality.
  2. Inaccurate; incorrect
  3. Unfavorable; negative; not good.
  4. Not suitable or fitting.
  5. Not appropriate, of manners etc.
  6. Harmful, especially unhealthy; liable to cause health problems.
  7. Sickly, unhealthy, unwell.
  8. The injured or weak one of a pair of body parts, where the other one is healthy.
  9. Not behaving; behaving badly; misbehaving; mischievous or disobedient.
  10. Tricky; stressful; unpleasant.
  11. Evil; wicked.
  12. Faulty; not functional.
  13. Spoiled, rotten, overripe.
  14. Malodorous; foul.
  15. False; counterfeit; illegitimate.
  16. Unskilled; of limited ability; not good.
  17. Of poor physical appearance.
  18. Severe, urgent.
  19. Regretful, guilty, or ashamed.
  20. Vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous.

Etymology

From Middle English bad, badde (“wicked, evil, depraved”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortening of Old English bæddel (“hermaphrodite”) (for loss of -el compare Middle English muche from Old English myċel, and Middle English wenche from Old English wenċel), or at least related to it and/or to bǣ̆dan (“to defile”), compare Old High German pad (“hermaphrodite”). Alternatively, perhaps a loan…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.