How to Use big bad in a Sentence

big bad

noun
Definition of big badnext
  • But his reckoning with the big bad wolf, at that point, has its own air of inevitability — of course a fable must end with a twist and a new form of harmony.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 21 May 2024
  • The big bad guy who ends up being the dad of the big good guy?
    — Herb Scribner, Washington Post, 4 May 2023
  • He was played by John Lithgow as the big bad of season four.
    — Matthew Gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Feb. 2023
  • Yeah, Melody ultimately does an about face and helps bust the big bad ghost with the Ghostbusters of past and present.
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Apr. 2024
  • The big basket-o-fire golems seen in the last gameplay trailer are on the move, and Mesmer, the seeming big bad of this DLC, is triumphant.
    — Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 21 May 2024
  • Trump will look like a hero to his supporters, standing up to the big bad fake news or whatever.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, USA TODAY, 10 May 2023
  • Ice Cube drops the mic in a dominating — and very fun-sounding — turn as the big bad, Superfly.
    — Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times, 15 Nov. 2023
  • The puzzle is how the big bad wolf was tolerated around humans long enough to evolve into the mutt that now sleeps on the sofa.
    — Gareth Cook, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2015
  • Ghosts are everywhere, 999 of them, to be exact, not counting the film’s big bad villain, the Hatbox ghost (Jared Leto).
    — Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 25 July 2023
  • The reveal of the Disney+ Star Wars series’ big bad may not have been a surprise to anyone, but the bloodbath (and biceps) were truly impressive and shocking.
    — Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 28 June 2024
  • Bryce is the real big bad, but Long is woefully underutilized.
    — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2023
  • The season also struggled to establish Thrawn as a big bad worthy of all the hype, and of the possibility of being the main villain in upcoming shows and/or movies.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 4 Oct. 2023
  • Every generation deserves their own high school outcast who takes down the big bad bully, and mine was Cady Heron, as played by Lindsay Lohan.
    — Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 12 Jan. 2024
  • So what was the rationale behind introducing our new big bad in the exact opposite way?
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Feb. 2023
  • Arlong’s crew hangs in a scenic courtyard park with carnival-like games and even a ramshackle Tiki bar, all flanking a massive tower where the big bad conducts his business.
    — William Goodman, Men's Health, 5 Sep. 2023
  • 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
  • At a certain point, the big bad guy shows up at a vape shop that shares the nickname of a key protagonist, dispatches with the clerk in a case of mistaken identity …then arrives at the actual protagonist’s house one second later.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 21 Mar. 2024
  • This is another origin story of a villain, given the same treatment that Darth Vader, Hannibal Lecter, and many, many other recognizable big bads of past pop-culture touchstones.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 Nov. 2023
  • Despite the rational demands of the unions and guilds, studio bigwigs aren’t budging, and their staunch refusal to create a more equitable working environment underscores a big bad that even the worst MCU villain couldn’t rival: capitalism.
    — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 12 Sep. 2023

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

Last Updated: