worse
verb
- to deteriorate in quality or condition
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L330624 on Wikidata ↗adverb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L333816 on Wikidata ↗adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L342586 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /wɜːs/ / /wɔːs/ / /wɝs/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English worse, werse, from Old English wiersa, from Proto-West Germanic *wirsiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Cognate with Dutch wers (“worse”).
- comparative form of bad: more bad
“Your exam results are worse than before.”
adv
Etymology: From Middle English worse, werse, from Old English wiersa, from Proto-West Germanic *wirsiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Cognate with Dutch wers (“worse”).
- comparative form of badly (adverb): more badly
“The harder you try, the worse you do.”
“Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.”
- Less skillfully.
“He drives worse than anyone else I know.”
- More severely or seriously.
“The bad news affected me worse than it did my brother.”
- Used to start a sentence describing something that is worse.
“Her leg is infected. Still worse, she's developing a fever.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English worse, werse, from Old English wiersa, from Proto-West Germanic *wirsiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Cognate with Dutch wers (“worse”).
- Loss; disadvantage; defeat
“Judah was put to the worse before Israel.”
- That which is worse; something less good.
“Do not think the worse of him for his enterprise.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English worse, werse, from Old English wiersa, from Proto-West Germanic *wirsiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Cognate with Dutch wers (“worse”).
- To make worse; to put at disadvantage; to discomfit.
“Weapons more violent, when next we meet, / May serve to better us and worse our foes.”