badly

adverb

bad·​ly ˈbad-lē How to pronounce badly (audio)
1
: in a bad manner
played badly
2
: to a great or intense degree
want something badly
Phrases
badly off for
British
: strongly in need of (something or someone)
It may seem pie in the sky in the current financial climate, but few could argue that for a city of its size and prestige, Edinburgh is badly off for large-scale sports facilities.The Evening News (Edinburgh)
not badly
: fairly or acceptably well
The economy is doing not badly and looks even better than it really is.Tom Teepen
think badly of
: to have an unfavorable or low opinion of (someone or something)
"You shouldn't think badly of the town because of this," said Brogan. "It is a good town."Neil Gaiman

Examples of badly in a Sentence

He played badly but I played even worse. The failure reflects badly on the administration. She wanted the job badly. I'm badly in need of a vacation. His fingers were badly frozen.
Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Boeing bungled its recent mission to ferry astronauts to the ISS so badly that SpaceX has at least a temporary monopoly over astronaut launches from American soil. Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024 Jourdain needed the win badly and got the $50,000 bonus. Brian Mazique, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2024 Adding to Bacon’s challenges is the fact that Trump is badly trailing Harris in the district, at least according to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll that found the GOP presidential nominee behind by 12 points. Filip Timotija, The Hill, 3 Nov. 2024 Even Burgess acknowledges how badly the state needed to modernize its voter registration system. Anjeanette Damon, ProPublica, 2 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for badly 

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of badly was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near badly

Cite this Entry

“Badly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/badly. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

badly

adverb
bad·​ly ˈbad-lē How to pronounce badly (audio)
worse
ˈwərs
; worst
ˈwərst
1
: in a bad manner
played badly
2
: very much
wanted the jeans badly

More from Merriam-Webster on badly

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!