worse

English

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /wɜːs/
• (US) IPA: /wɝs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)s

Etymology

Old English wyrsa

Adjective

worse

1. comparative form of bad: more bad

   Your exam results are worse than before.

2. comparative form of ill: more ill

   She was very ill last week but this week she’s worse.

3. Of lower quality, less desirable.
4. More severe or serious.
5. More evil.

Translations

Translations

Arabic: أسوأ (ar) ('áswa') Chinese: Mandarin: 更壞 (cmn), 更坏 (cmn) (gèng huài), 更糟 (cmn) (gèng zāo), 比較壞 (cmn), 比较坏 (cmn) (bǐjiào huài) Czech: horší (cs) Danish: værre (da) Dutch: slechter (nl) Esperanto: pli malbona (eo) French: pire (fr), plus mauvais (fr) German: schlechter (de), schlimmer (de) Italian: peggiore (it)

Japanese: さらに。。。悪い (ja) (sara ni...warui), もっと悪い (ja) (もっとわるい, motto warui), いっそう悪い (ja) (いっそうわるい, issō warui), より悪い (ja) (...yori warui) Korean: 더 나쁜 (doe nappun) Latin: peior (la) Norwegian: verre (no) Persian: بدتر (fa) (badtar) Portuguese: pior (pt) Russian: худший (ru) (xúdšij) Spanish: peor (es) Swedish: värre (sv)

Derived terms

• go from bad to worse
• the worse for wear

Related terms

• worst

Adverb

worse

1. comparative form of badly: more badly

   He drives worse than anyone I know.

2. comparative form of ill: more ill

   He's worse-mannered than she is.

3. Less skillfully.
4. More severely or seriously.
5. (sentence adverb) Used to start a sentence.

   Her leg is infected. Still worse, she's developing a fever.

Noun

worse

1. A worse condition.

   His mood took a turn for the worse.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: isn't · board · associated · #976: worse · safe · main · q

Anagrams

• owers, resow, serow, sower, sowre, swore