badly

Formsworse, worst

1. 1
   adverb

   In a manner that is poor, faulty, or lacking in skill.

   The report was badly written, full of errors and unclear arguments.

   She drove badly on the icy roads and nearly clipped a fence.

   Similarpoorly

   Oppositewell

   Note

   Built straight from bad with -ly, this is the everyday adverb of poor performance, and its plain opposite is well. In comparison it borrows bad's own forms: you do worse, or worst, never "more badly" in this sense. It judges opinions as well as actions: to think badly of someone means to think ill of them, not to think clumsily.

2. 2
   adverb

   To a great extent or with great intensity, especially when wanting or needing something.

   After the long hike, they badly wanted a hot meal and a warm bed.

   The company badly needed new investment to survive the downturn.

   Similardesperately, sorely, really, urgently

   Note

   Here the word measures how much, not how well. It clusters with verbs of wanting and needing (badly want, badly need) and with words for damage or failure, as in badly wrong or the badly run-down railways that 'Borderer' described in Railway Magazine (1958). Context separates it from the manner sense: you badly need a haircut is about urgency, not about needing it poorly.

3. 3
   adjectivedialectalNorthern England

   Ill or unwell; in poor health.

   The old farmer had been badly all winter and rarely left his bed.

   She felt too badly to attend the wedding and sent her apologies.

   Similarill, unwell, sick, poorly

   Oppositewell, healthy

   Note

   A Northern English adjective for being ill, used after be: he's never badly means he is never ill, not that he never does anything in a poor manner. As an adjective it compares as more badly and most badly, unlike the adverb's worse and worst. Outside the region it can read as a misplaced adverb, so it suits dialogue and local voice better than neutral prose.

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