Phrase guide

bad news bears

proverb · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

proverb

Meaning 1

Said of someone or something that will bring disaster or bad fortune to one.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, capitalized, idiomatic, sometimes

Examples

  • I could tell by looking at him that he was bad news bears, so I avoided him for the rest of the school year.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Presumably a reference to the 1976 sports comedy film The Bad News Bears.