How to Use bad in a Sentence

bad

1 of 3 adjective
  • She made a very bad impression on her future colleagues.
  • What is the best part of your work...and what is the worst?
    Allison Carey, cleveland.com, 10 Apr. 2018
  • Still, Trump thinks this is a bad deal, to say the least.
    Alex Ward, Vox, 11 July 2018
  • And as for the price: Well, three out of four isn't bad.
    Steven Cole Smith, Car and Driver, 12 June 2020
  • For better or worse, that set the tone for the rest of the half.
    Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 15 Sep. 2019
  • And the problem might be even worse than the study shows.
    Madeline Holcombe, CNN, 4 May 2023
  • Look at the edge of a good and bad spot for these pests near the soil line.
    Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 11 Sep. 2021
  • Those days are no longer, and that's not such a bad thing.
    Yec, Forbes, 29 June 2021
  • The dump site was pretty close to town, so the smell was kind of bad.
    Anchorage Daily News, 27 Nov. 2019
  • In boom times, that might not seem like such a bad thing.
    Julia Horowitz, CNN, 26 Oct. 2021
  • The world has changed a lot since then — for better and for worse.
    Bruce Deboskey, The Denver Post, 8 Sep. 2019
  • These lyrics are deeply revealing for the good and the bad.
    Marcus Jones, EW.com, 23 Sep. 2021
  • That kind of put a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth.
    Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 16 May 2023
  • There are good vibes, bad vibes, and just plain old vibes.
    Longreads, 19 Apr. 2022
  • For now, take a look through the good, bad, and messy of this week in fashion.
    Kerane Marcellus, Essence, 7 Jan. 2023
  • Those rates are bad enough, but worse lurks in the details.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 5 Apr. 2021
  • And this one stat shows just how bad these two matchups were.
    For The Win, 21 Dec. 2017
  • Here's hoping the winds shift and this storm isn't quite that bad.
    Kelly O'Sullivan, Country Living, 9 Apr. 2019
  • Given the thrill that comes with it, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
    Jared Newman, PCWorld, 21 Apr. 2021
  • That’s not to say that handling projects in-house is a bad idea.
    Vito Vishnepolsky, Forbes, 29 Sep. 2021
  • As a girl in racing, there’s good and bad that goes with that.
    Andy Frye, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2021
  • Though no one knew it at the time, that would be as bad as things would get.
    Alex Putterman, courant.com, 28 Dec. 2020
  • Over time, Wojtek picked up some bad habits from the men.
    Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2021
  • And when times are bad, people want to go out and have fun more.
    Hector Saldana, ExpressNews.com, 23 June 2020
  • If last year was bad for Meta, this year might be worse.
    Tim De Chant, Ars Technica, 3 Feb. 2022
  • That would hurt you longer and a lot worse than late payments.
    Teresa Dixon Murray, cleveland.com, 28 Feb. 2018
  • Sounds like the start of a bad late night infomercial, right?
    Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 9 Aug. 2023
  • The case against: Strong case to be made this is the league's worst roster, top to bottom.
    Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, USA TODAY, 21 June 2023
  • Often these charts have a shaded portion from 2010 to mark the start of the smartphone era, and then a sharp upturn (or downturn) that shows how bad things have grown.
    Matt Reynolds, WIRED, 29 Mar. 2024
  • People don’t have to live in each other’s pockets to avoid being alone, and being alone is not always a bad thing.
    Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2024
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bad

2 of 3 noun
  • He believes that the good go to heaven when they die and the bad go to hell.
  • We need to teach our children the difference between good and bad.
  • He was played by John Lithgow as the big bad of season four.
    Matthew Gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Feb. 2023
  • And yet, no, Savathun is not the big bad of the entire Destiny franchise.
    Paul Tassi, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021
  • Up until this point, the show had led viewers to believe that the big bad was Doomsday, the beast who famously killed Superman in the comics.
    Chancellor Agard, EW.com, 26 Jan. 2022
  • The accidental bumps and sorrys and quiet my bads create a low hum as the group finds its rhythm behind Jaydon.
    Adam Harris, The Atlantic, 29 Aug. 2019
  • Our big bads in the Hawkins federal lab seem to be ramping up to factor heavily into this modern theme.
    Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, 31 Oct. 2017
  • While others baked sourdough, Criminal Minds: Evolution's new big bad built a network of serial killers during the pandemic.
    Jessica Wang, EW.com, 25 Nov. 2022
  • He believes that the good go to heaven when they die and the bad go to hell.
  • We need to teach our children the difference between good and bad.
  • He was played by John Lithgow as the big bad of season four.
    Matthew Gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Feb. 2023
  • And yet, no, Savathun is not the big bad of the entire Destiny franchise.
    Paul Tassi, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021
  • Up until this point, the show had led viewers to believe that the big bad was Doomsday, the beast who famously killed Superman in the comics.
    Chancellor Agard, EW.com, 26 Jan. 2022
  • The accidental bumps and sorrys and quiet my bads create a low hum as the group finds its rhythm behind Jaydon.
    Adam Harris, The Atlantic, 29 Aug. 2019
  • Our big bads in the Hawkins federal lab seem to be ramping up to factor heavily into this modern theme.
    Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, 31 Oct. 2017
  • While others baked sourdough, Criminal Minds: Evolution's new big bad built a network of serial killers during the pandemic.
    Jessica Wang, EW.com, 25 Nov. 2022
  • He believes that the good go to heaven when they die and the bad go to hell.
  • We need to teach our children the difference between good and bad.
  • He was played by John Lithgow as the big bad of season four.
    Matthew Gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Feb. 2023
  • And yet, no, Savathun is not the big bad of the entire Destiny franchise.
    Paul Tassi, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021
  • Up until this point, the show had led viewers to believe that the big bad was Doomsday, the beast who famously killed Superman in the comics.
    Chancellor Agard, EW.com, 26 Jan. 2022
  • The accidental bumps and sorrys and quiet my bads create a low hum as the group finds its rhythm behind Jaydon.
    Adam Harris, The Atlantic, 29 Aug. 2019
  • Our big bads in the Hawkins federal lab seem to be ramping up to factor heavily into this modern theme.
    Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, 31 Oct. 2017
  • While others baked sourdough, Criminal Minds: Evolution's new big bad built a network of serial killers during the pandemic.
    Jessica Wang, EW.com, 25 Nov. 2022
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bad

3 of 3 adverb
  • He hasn't succeeded because he doesn't want it bad enough.
  • Not bad a for a team whose rushing attack ranked 32nd in the league a year ago.
    Bob McManaman, azcentral, 1 Jan. 2020
  • Not bad a for a team that has had trouble finding the net all season.
    Jeremy Fuchs, SI.com, 12 Mar. 2018
  • This is part of the reason why there are so few bad-sounding earphones on the market.
    Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 18 June 2021
  • The Fed’s bad-tasting medicine may slow it down eventually, but the medicine takes some time to work.
    John Dorfman, Forbes, 25 Apr. 2022
  • As bad a beating as the left took this year, losses may be starker and deeper in years to come.
    The Economist, 30 June 2018
  • Apart from all the hurricane of all that fire coming up real bad.
    Mark Phillips, CBS News, 5 June 2019
  • Officers met with three people, one a male who said he bad been robbed by two males with a gun.
    Jeff Piorkowski/special To Cleveland.com, cleveland.com, 13 Sep. 2017
  • And so all those businesses on the way into Yosemite on the south are hurting pretty bad.
    Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 18 July 2022
  • Maybe Monday was just one of those random variance bad-shooting nights for the Utah Jazz.
    Eric Walden, The Salt Lake Tribune, 10 May 2021
  • And whether you’re talking oak in wine, pumpkin in coffee, or weed in brownies: too much of a good thing is BAD.
    Marissa A. Ross, Bon Appetit, 17 Apr. 2017
  • There was a definite feeling of having been good-cop-bad-copped that evening.
    Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2021
  • Straight men are, the old chestnut goes, bad at expressing themselves.
    Josephine Livingstone, New Republic, 12 Feb. 2018
  • It's been nearly two months since Riverdale's season finale aired, and the fans are missing it real bad.
    Noelle Devoe, Seventeen, 6 July 2017
  • And nothing ruins an ambiance more than a bad-smelling candle.
    Courtney Campbell, USA TODAY, 31 Dec. 2020
  • Drake got this man down bad after responding to a troll’s comment about his son Adonis….
    Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 4 May 2022
  • During that same six months, 60 percent of those who said their quality of life was bad or very bad changed their answers to good or very good.
    Mary Schumacher, chicagotribune.com, 28 Aug. 2019
  • In particular, be careful about bad-mouthing the other person when a friendship draws to a close.
    Michelle Icard, CNN, 6 Aug. 2021
  • Overripe fruits and vegetables go bad faster, so choose the freshest produce available.
    Arriana Vasquez Wirecutter, Star Tribune, 9 Oct. 2020
  • Kids get a lot of their confidence and sense of self-worth from their families — thus the emphasis on parents’ not bad-mouthing each other.
    Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2022
  • Then, the chief of staff began ignoring the aide’s phone calls, lying about meetings being canceled, and bad-mouthing her to Sims, according to the complaint.
    Alice Yin, chicagotribune.com, 17 Dec. 2021
  • The Suns’ interior defense is reliably bad, ranking 28th in the NBA in paint points allowed per game.
    Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle, 13 Jan. 2018
  • Things are so bad now, there are so many women just desperately trying to figure out how to be empowered by me.
    Dave Itzkoff, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2018
  • Staff would discourage a person from chewing on a foreign object by forcing them to hold a coarse rag dipped in a bad-tasting substance in their mouth.
    State Of Denial, ProPublica, 6 Nov. 2020
  • Quinn dumped offensive line coach Ron Prince and replaced him with Jeff Davidson, who has a history of turning around bad running teams.
    Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press, 28 Apr. 2018
  • If this becomes another 218 Arch St., the developer, L&I, the city, everybody is going to look very bad all over.
    Stephan Salisbury, Philly.com, 24 Jan. 2018
  • Composers are notoriously bad at taking a step back from their works.
    David Patrick Stearns, Philly.com, 14 Feb. 2018
  • Humans have no difficulty putting names to colours but are notoriously bad at putting names to odours.
    The Economist, 18 Jan. 2018
  • People might also experience fever, chills, peeing a lot or feeling the urge to pee a lot, burning while peeing, nausea, vomiting, pus in the urine, and cloudy, bad-smelling urine.
    Colleen Stinchcombe, SELF, 15 Nov. 2021
  • Also, if exposed to too much heat, humidity, or other elements, the gummies can go bad faster than the expiration date.
    Laxmi Corp, The Salt Lake Tribune, 30 Sep. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bad.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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