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badly

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English badly, baddely, baddeliche, equivalent to bad +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈbæd.li/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ædli

Adverb

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badly (comparative worse, superlative worst)

  1. In a bad manner.
    Synonyms: lousily, meagerly, poorly, shoddily
    Antonym: well
    Things are going badly for her: she did badly in her exams owing to a badly designed studying schedule.
    Don't think badly of me, give me the benefit of the doubt.
    • 2005, Cathy Hopkins, The Mates, Dates Guide to Life, Love, and Looking Luscious:
      You can eat badly and feel crapola or eat healthily and feel great. The choice is yours...
  2. Very much; to a great degree.
    Synonyms: acutely, very much; see also Thesaurus:extremely
    I want it so badly.
    Look at these split ends! You badly need a haircut!
    Everything went badly wrong.
    • 1958 January, 'Borderer', “Ten Years of British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:
      The task was made trebly difficult, however, by the badly run-down condition in which the railways of Britain had been unavoidably left at the end of the war in 1945, […] .
    • 2008, Darl Larsen, Monty Python's Flying Circus, page 276:
      In late 1970, Labour assumed the shadow posts, having lost badly (and unforeseenly) in the summer General Election.

Usage notes

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  • Badly is sometimes used after feel in its copulative sense where one might expect an adjective, ie, bad. Most prescriptive grammarians prefer "I feel bad" to "I feel badly", but "I feel badly" is widely used.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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badly (comparative more badly, superlative most badly)

  1. (Northern England) Ill, unwell.
    He's never badly.

Translations

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Anagrams

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