worse

Formsworses, worsing, worsed

1. 1
   adjective

   Comparative of bad.

   This year's harvest was worse than last year's.

   The roads are worse after the heavy rain.

   Note

   English does not build this comparative by adding -er to bad. It uses a different stem, a pattern called suppletion, and worst completes the set. The stem is old: Old English wiersa, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô, with Dutch wers as a cousin. It serves every ordinary sense of bad, including poor quality, wrong, harmful and unsuitable, but not the slang uses.

2. 2
   adverb

   Comparative of badly.

   She performed worse under pressure than in rehearsal.

   The machine ran worse after the careless repair.

   Note

   One spelling serves two words: the adverb badly takes the same comparative as the adjective bad. The verb shows which one you have. After do, fare or perform it is the adverb, as when Ian Sample writes in The Guardian (2013) that children with irregular bedtimes fared worse. After be, look or feel it is the adjective. It also anchors the paired pattern the harder you try, the worse you do.

3. 3
   adverb

   To a more severe or more serious degree than before.

   The infection spread worse than the doctors had feared.

   He was injured worse than anyone else in the crash.

4. 4
   adverb

   In a manner showing less skill or competence.

   The new hire handled customers worse than the trainee.

   He cooks worse than anyone I know, yet he loves it.

   Oppositebetter

5. 5
   noun

   The less good of two things, or a more unfavorable outcome.

   Of the two outcomes, the worse came to pass.

   Their finances changed for the worse after the layoffs.

   Oppositebetter

   Note

   Its natural home is a handful of set phrases: a change for the worse, or think the worse of someone. The second takes for to name the cause, as in think the worse of him for his enterprise. With the definite article it can also pick out the lesser of two things. The old "defeat" noun has the same shape but is no longer used.

6. 6
   adverb

   Used to introduce a statement more serious or more troubling than what was just said.

   The funding was cut; worse, the deadline stayed the same.

   She missed the flight, and worse, her luggage flew without her.

   Note

   A sentence adverb that ranks what follows above what came before. One trouble is stated, then a graver one is stacked on top of it. It is often strengthened as still worse or worse still. It is set off by punctuation, with a comma after it and a semicolon or full stop before. Unlike the "more severely" adverb, it comments on the whole clause rather than modifying a verb.

Showing meanings only. Show all 8