worst

English

Etymology

From Middle English worste, wurste, warste, werste, wirste, from Old English wierrest, from Proto-Germanic *wirsistaz, superlative form of *ubilaz (“bad, evil”); compare worse.

Cognate with Old Saxon wirsista, wirrista (“worst”), Old High German wirst, wirsesto, wirsisto (“worst”), Danish værst (“worst”), Swedish värst (“worst”), Icelandic verstur (“worst”).

Pronunciation

• (UK)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɜːst/
  • (Northumbria) IPA^(key): /wɔːst/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /wɜɹst/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (Indic, non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /ʋɜk/
• (Indic, rhotic) IPA^(key): /ʋə(r)sʈ/, (rounded) /(ʋ)ɵ(r)sʈ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)st

Adjective

worst

1. (for non-slang definitions) superlative form of bad: most bad
   1. Most inferior; doing the least good.

      I think putting oil on a burn is the worst thing you can do.

   2. Most unfavorable.

      That's the worst news I've had all day.

   3. Most harmful or severe.

      The worst storm we had last winter knocked down our power lines.

   4. Used with the definite article and an implied noun: something that is worst.

      None of these photographs of me are good, but this one is definitely the worst.

Usage notes

The comparative badder (for worse) and superlative baddest (for worst) derived from the positive bad are nonstandard. Worst may be further inflected to form the two additional superlatives worstest (nonstandard) and worstestest (informal, humorous). The comparative worser is also nonstandard.

Synonyms

• (most bad): baddest (nonstandard), pessimal

Antonyms

• best, optimal

Derived terms

• at the worst
• at worst
• bad comes to worst
• be one's own worst enemy
• doctors make the worst patients
• do one's worst
• fear the worst
• get the worst of it
• in the worst way
• least worst
• the cobbler always wears the worst shoes
• the cobbler's children are the worst shod
• the shoemaker always wears the worst shoes
• worse comes to worst
• worst-case
• worst-case scenario
• worst case scenario
• worst comes to worst
• worst enemy
• worst for wear
• worst-kept secret
• Worst Korea
• worstness
• worst of both worlds
• worst off
• worst timeline

Related terms

• worse

Translations

most inferior

• Arabic: (+ الـ + al-) أَسْوَأ (ʔaswaʔ)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: pior
• Belarusian: найго́ршы (najhóršy)
• Catalan: (+ el / la) pitjor (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 最壞 / 最坏 (zuìhuài), 最差 (zuìchà)

• Czech: nejhorší (cs)
• Danish: værst
• Dutch: slechtst (nl), ergst (nl)
• Esperanto: la plej malbona
• Finnish: pahin (fi)
• French: (+ le / la) pire (fr), (+ le plus / la plus) mauvais(e) (fr)
• Friulian: il piês
• Galician: (+ o / a) peor
• Georgian: ყველაზე ცუდი (q̇velaze cudi), ყველაზე უარესი (q̇velaze uaresi), უცუდესი (ucudesi)
• German: (+ der, die, das) schlechteste (de), schlechtester (de); (+ der, die, das) schlimmste (de), schlimmster (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κάκιστος (kákistos), χείριστος (kheíristos)

• Hausa: munin (ha), mafi munin
• Hindi: सबसे बुरा (sabse burā), बदतरीन (badatrīn)
• Hungarian: legrosszabb (hu)
• Ido: maxim mala
• Interlingua: pejor
• Italian: (+ il / la) peggiore (it), peggiore (it), pessimo (it)
• Japanese: 最低の (ja) (saitei no), 最悪の (ja) (saiaku no), びりの (ja) (biri no), ワースト (ja) (wāsuto) (ranking)
• Khmer: អាក្រក់​ជាង​គេ (aakrɑk cieŋ kee), អាក្រក់​បំផុត (aakrɑk bɑmpʰot)
• Korean: 가장 나쁜 (gajang nappeun)
• Latin: pessimus, nēquissimus, dēterrimus
• Macedonian: најлош (najloš)
• Malay: terburuk (ms)
• Middle English: worst
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: (+ lo / la) pièger (oc)
• Old English: wierrest
• Pannonian Rusyn: найгорши (najhorši)
• Polish: najgorszy
• Portuguese: (+ o / a) pior (pt)
• Russian: ху́дший (ru) (xúdšij), наиху́дший (ru) (naixúdšij), ху́же всего́ (xúže vsevó)
• Sardinian: (+ su / sa) pejus
• Sanskrit: अधम (sa) (adhama)
• Slovak: najhorší
• Spanish: (+ el / la) peor (es)
• Swedish: värst (sv)
• Tagalog: pinakamasama
• Thai: เลวที่สุด,แย่ที่สุด
• Turkish: en kötü
• Ukrainian: найгі́рший (najhíršyj)
• Vietnamese: tệ nhất

Adverb

worst

1. superlative form of badly: most badly; least well.

   My sore leg hurts worst when it's cold and rainy.

   This is the worst-written essay I've ever seen.

   She's the worst-informed of the lot.

Translations

in the worst way

• Belarusian: найго́рш (najhórš)
• Czech: nejhůře
• Catalan: (+ el)pitjor (ca)
• Dutch: (+ het)slechst
• French: (+ le plus)mal (fr)
• Italian: (+ il)peggio (it)
• Galician: peor
• Middle English: worst
• Occitan: pièg
• Pannonian Rusyn: найгорше (najhorše)
• Polish: najgorzej
• Portuguese: pior (pt)
• Romanian: (+ cel mai)rău (ro)
• Russian: ху́же всего́ (xúže vsevó)
• Sardinian: pejus
• Slovak: najhoršie
• Spanish: peor (es)
• Swedish: värst (sv)
• Tagalog: pinakamasahol
• Ukrainian: найгі́рше (najhírše)

Noun

worst (plural worsts)

1. Something or someone that is the worst.
   • 1991, Don C. Dinkmeyer, Jr., The Encouragement Book: Becoming a Positive Person, page 201:

     The humorist helps people to explore and confront their worsts

Derived terms

• hope for the best, prepare for the worst

Translations

something that is worst

• French: pire (fr)
• Hungarian: legrosszabb (hu)
• Italian: peggiore (it) m
• Japanese: ワースト (ja) (wāsuto)
• Khmer: ដែលអាក្រក់ជាងគេ (dael aakrɑk cieng kee)
• Korean: 워스트 (woseuteu)
• Middle English: worst
• Polish: najgorsze n
• Portuguese: pior (pt) m
• Russian: наиху́дшее n (naixúdšeje), ху́дшее (ru) n (xúdšeje)

Verb

worst (third-person singular simple present worsts, present participle worsting, simple past and past participle worsted)

1. (archaic, transitive) To make worse.
2. (dated, intransitive) To grow worse; to deteriorate.
   • 1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:

     Anne haggard, Mary coarse, every face in the neighbourhood worsting.

3. (rare) To outdo or defeat, especially in battle.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     The […] Philistines were worsted by the captivated ark.

   • 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Dance”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book third, pages 205–206:

     Her joy and pride in the honour paid to her darling son Adam was beginning to be worsted in the conflict with the jealousy and fretfulness which had revived when Adam came to tell her that Captain Donnithorne desired him to join the dancers in the hall.

   • 1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:

     Jo carried her love of liberty and hate of conventionalities to such an unlimited extent that she naturally found herself worsted in an argument.

   • 1894, Leo Tolstoï [i.e., Leo Tolstoy], “Contradiction between Our Life and our Christian Conscience”, in Constance Garnett, transl., The Kingdom of God is within You: or, Christianity Not as a Mystical Doctrine, but as a New Life-conception. […], London: Walter Scott, […], →OCLC, page 120:

     The higher classes see the unions, the strikes, the May Day Celebrations, and feel the calamity that is threatening them, and their terror passes into an instinct of self-defense and hatred. They know that if for one instant they are worsted in the struggle with their oppressed slaves, they will perish, because the slaves are exasperated and their exasperation is growing more intense with every day of oppression.

Anagrams

• Trows, rowts, strow, trows, worts

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch worst, from Old Dutch *wurst, *worst, from Proto-West Germanic *wursti.

Cognate with Limburgish wósj, Zealandic woste, Old Saxon worst, Middle Low German worst, Plautdietsch Worscht, Old Frisian *wurst, West Frisian woarst, Old High German wurst, Middle High German wurst, German Wurst, Swabian Wurscht, Sathmar Swabian Wurscht, Bavarian Wuascht, Central Franconian Woosch, Luxembourgish Wuuscht, Hunsrik Worst, East Central German Wurscht, Vilamovian wiyśt, East Franconian Woschd, Rhine Franconian Wurscht, Pennsylvania German Warscht, Palatine German Wurst, Yiddish וווּרשט (vursht).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋɔrst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: worst
• Rhymes: -ɔrst

Noun

worst f (plural worsten, diminutive worstje n)

1. sausage

Derived terms

• een worst voorhouden
• eenheidsworst
• tochtworst
• worstachtig
• worstdeeg
• worstenbrood
• worstenmaker
• worstennat
• worstfabriek
• worstketel
• worstkolf
• worstmengsel
• worstmolen
• worstrecept
• worstsoort
• worstvinger
• worstvlees
• worstvlies
• worstvormig

types of sausage

• barbecueworst
• bierworst
• bloedworst
• bockworst
• boerenworst
• boterhamworst
• braadworst
• cervelaatworst
• curryworst
• droge worst
• droogworst
• erwtenworst
• grilworst
• hespenworst
• hondenworst
• jachtworst
• ketelworst
• kippenworst
• knakworst
• knoflookworst
• kookworst
• kosterworst
• lamsworst
• leverworst
• lookworst
• meelworst
• metworst
• ossenworst
• paardenworst
• palingworst
• pekelworst
• plokworst
• reuzelworst
• rookworst
• runderworst
• smeerworst
• snijworst
• spekworst
• theeworst
• tongenworst
• truffelworst
• varkensworst
• visworst
• vleesworst
• zultworst

Descendants

• Afrikaans: wors
  • → English: wors
• Jersey Dutch: wârst
• → Papiamentu: wòrs
• → Russian: ворса (vorsa)
• → Sranan Tongo: worst

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *wurst, *worst, from Proto-West Germanic *wursti.

Noun

worst f

1. sausage

Inflection

Strong feminine noun

	singular	plural
nominative	worst	worste
accusative	worst	worste
genitive	worst, worste	worste
dative	worst, worste	worsten

Descendants

• Dutch: worst
  • Afrikaans: wors
    • → English: wors
  • Jersey Dutch: wârst
  • → Papiamentu: wòrs
  • → Russian: ворса (vorsa)
  • → Sranan Tongo: worst
• Limburgish: wósj

Further reading

• “worst”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “worst”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Alternative forms

• warst, warste, werist, werst, werste, wirst, worste, wyrst
• werrest, wrst, wurst (Early Middle English)

Etymology

From Old English wierst, contraction of wierrest, from Proto-West Germanic *wirsist, from Proto-Germanic *wirsistaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwurst/, /ˈwɛrst/
• (later Northern) IPA^(key): /ˈwarst/

Adjective

worst (plural and weak singular worste)

1. superlative degree of yvel
2. superlative degree of ille

Descendants

• English: worst (dialectal wust)
• Scots: warst, waurst

References

• “werst(e, adj. superlative.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Adverb

worst

1. superlative degree of yvel (adverb)
2. superlative degree of ille (adverb)

Descendants

• English: worst
• Scots: warst, waurst

References

• “werst(e, adv. superlative.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Noun

worst (uncountable)

1. Something or someone which is the most yvel or ille; the worst.
2. (specifically) The worst-case scenario or eventuality.
3. (figuratively) A rout or loss in battle.

Descendants

• English: worst
• Scots: warst, waurst

References

• “werst(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.