Standard Lemma guide

badness

noun · 4 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.

  • /ˈbæd.nəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ædnəs
  • CMU ARPABET: B AE1 D N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality or degree of being bad.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an attribute of mischievous children

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: naughtiness, mischievousness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: disobedience

Narrower terms: prankishness, rascality, roguishness

3

noun

Meaning 3

used of the degree of something undesirable e.g. pain or weather

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: severity, severeness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: intensity, intensiveness

Narrower terms: foulness, raininess, seriousness, distressfulness

4

noun

Meaning 4

that which is below standard or expectations as of ethics or decency

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • take the bad with the good

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bad

Antonyms: goodness

Broader terms: quality

Narrower terms: unworthiness, undesirability, worse, evil, unsoundness, liability, inadvisability

History

Etymology

From Middle English baddenes, badnes, badnesse; equivalent to bad + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: سُوء (sūʔ) — the quality of being bad
  • Catalan: bua — the quality of being bad
  • Esperanto: malbono — the quality of being bad
  • Finnish: pahuus — the quality of being bad
  • Georgian: სიცუდე (sicude) — the quality of being bad
  • Georgian: უვარგისობა (uvargisoba) — the quality of being bad
  • German: Schlechtigkeit — the quality of being bad
  • Ancient Greek: κακία (kakía) — the quality of being bad
  • Hebrew: רוע (ro'a) — the quality of being bad
  • Hindi: बुराई (burāī) — the quality of being bad
  • Hungarian: rosszaság — the quality of being bad
  • Irish: donacht — the quality of being bad
  • Irish: ainnise — the quality of being bad
  • Irish: olcas — the quality of being bad
  • Central Kurdish: خِراپە (xirape) — the quality of being bad
  • Polish: niegodziwość — the quality of being bad
  • Portuguese: ruindade — the quality of being bad
  • Portuguese: maldade — the quality of being bad
  • Romanian: răutate — the quality of being bad
  • Russian: него́дность (negódnostʹ) — the quality of being bad
  • Spanish: maldad — the quality of being bad
  • Telugu: చెడ్డతనము (ceḍḍatanamu) — the quality of being bad
  • Turkish: kötülük — the quality of being bad
  • Volapük: bad — the quality of being bad
  • Welsh: drygioni — the quality of being bad
Real reading context

badness in complete knowledge articles