worse
adjective
\
Definition of worse
(Entry 1 of 3)
comparative of bad
or of ill
worse
nounDefinition of worse (Entry 2 of 3)
worse
adverbDefinition of worse (Entry 3 of 3)
comparative of bad
or badly
or of ill
or illy
Examples of worse in a Sentence
Adjective
His schoolwork got worse after his parents split up. Her second book was worse than her first one. Her first book was bad, but her second one is even worse. This one is no worse than that one. Could the situation get any worse? You have even worse luck than I do. It turned out to be a worse idea than we originally thought. She ended up in worse shape than when she started. Things are bad for him now, but he was in a worse situation last week. Cheer up. Things could be worse, you know.Noun
I didn't want to tell her that worse was yet to come. Her accusations don't bother me. I've been accused of worse. When I lost my job, my life took a turn for the worse.Adverb
I did much worse on my second try. You drive worse than he does. That isn't an excellent score, but you could have done worse. She was hurt worse than I was.
Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
Worse case: James leaves so Altman pays Thomas to form a superstar duo with Love and explores trades for a third star with his lottery pick. — Ben Golliver, SI.com, "Koby Altman's Magic Act Lets LeBron Know There's Life After Kyrie," 23 Aug. 2017Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
What made the prejudice worse was that the entire institutional infrastructure of college basketball was in on it; coaches, athletic directors and alumni. — John Kass, chicagotribune.com, "Loyola’s legacy: Rejecting racial preference in pursuit of excellence," 27 Mar. 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb
Some bad teams like the New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals have stepped things up and look progressively worse. — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, "Hyde5: Here’s why Dolphins’ shot at No. 1 pick has taken some hits," 13 Aug. 2019 Certainly, Morganna wore nothing worse than the hideous double-knit baseball uniforms of that era, often colored blue on the road (or worse in the case of Pittsburgh, San Diego and Houston). — Joe Lapointe, Detroit Free Press, "40 years ago, Disco Demolition Night stirred culture war still being fought," 12 July 2019 But that does not necessarily mean that happiness causes people to have children or vice versa: both low happiness and low fertility may be the result of being poorer, or worse educated, or of many other things. — The Economist, "Children make parents happy, after all," 10 July 2019 That has gotten worse in the Trump years, but federal aid for low-income housing has been insufficient for years. — Adrian Walker, BostonGlobe.com, "Boston Housing Authority chief Bill McGonagle, the city’s landlord, takes his leave," 7 July 2019 Advances in technology have allowed map-makers to draw districts with increasing precision, and advocates of limiting partisan districting have said the problem will grow even worse in the redistricting that follows the 2020 census. — Washington Post, "Justices: Partisan gerrymandering none of our business," 27 June 2019 According to these stories, the Phoenix Suns couldn't have done much worse in the draft. — Jeremy Cluff, azcentral, "Phoenix Suns the big loser in 2019 NBA draft after questionable trades, picks," 21 June 2019 The unbanked As Facebook rightly points out, almost half of the world’s adults lack bank accounts, with figures being worse in developing countries and among women. — David Meyer, Fortune, "4 Reasons to be Skeptical About Facebook's Libra Cryptocurrency," 7 Jan. 2019 Around the country, the electoral math for those Republicans who have signed the petition is much the same — and in some cases worse. — New York Times, "Vulnerable Republicans See Immigration as Political Salvation," 1 June 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'worse.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for worse
worse
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of worse
(Entry 1 of 3)
worse
adverbEnglish Language Learners Definition of worse (Entry 3 of 3)
See the full definition for worse in the English Language Learners Dictionary
worse
adjective
\
Kids Definition of worse
(Entry 1 of 3)
comparative of bad
or of ill
worse
noun