How to Use badly in a Sentence

badly

adverb
  • She wanted the job badly.
  • I'm badly in need of a vacation.
  • He played badly but I played even worse.
  • His fingers were badly frozen.
  • The failure reflects badly on the administration.
  • The game flipped – and badly – quickly on the Brewers in this one.
    Journal Sentinel, 15 May 2023
  • When the smoke cleared, the tree was still standing, but it had been badly charred.
    Ellen Wexler, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Aug. 2024
  • How could a No. 7 seed be crushing the No. 2 seed so badly?
    Christopher Kuhagen, Journal Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2024
  • It's become a test of how badly a coach wants this job, but that was one of the goals all along.
    Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 3 Feb. 2023
  • The one story nobody has is the time he got beat badly.
    Jimmy Watkins, cleveland, 2 Aug. 2023
  • The beach near the tracks has eroded badly in recent years.
    Philip Diehl, The Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2024
  • Disney fans agree that this section of the park badly needs change.
    Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2024
  • Once officers arrived at the scene of the crash, a man, badly injured was found in the scene.
    The Arizona Republic, 13 Aug. 2023
  • In his hard moment, Ovechkin wanted badly to get back on the ice.
    Stephen Whyno, ajc, 22 Feb. 2023
  • Stanford’s defense was so badly stumped, Keister said the field was wide open all the way to the end zone.
    Ndaschel, oregonlive, 19 Sep. 2023
  • The old bull was bleeding badly from a cut in his right shoulder.
    Anton Money, Outdoor Life, 15 Aug. 2024
  • On a day when emotions were high and Brady was back in the house, the Patriots stumbled badly from the blocks.
    Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Sep. 2023
  • In the last five losses, ASU has been beaten, in many cases badly, on the boards.
    Michelle Gardner, The Arizona Republic, 9 Feb. 2023
  • One of the reasons people behaved so badly, of course, was the color of their skin.
    Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Apr. 2023
  • In the weeks before Oct. 7, Abu Awad had been planning to work on his house, which was badly damaged in a storm.
    Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2024
  • How badly did coach Tom Izzo need these wins if at all?
    Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press, 23 Mar. 2023
  • Photos showed the silver car with a badly mangled roof and the windshield crushed flat.
    TIME, 12 Feb. 2024
  • The Warriors had hustled down the floor for a final shot, but David Mack’s wild 3-point try missed badly.
    John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Feb. 2024
  • Hundreds were killed and thousands injured, and huge swaths of the city were badly damaged.
    NBC News, 10 Nov. 2023
  • A lot of people have been sort of aghast that Carrie fumbled Ben so badly.
    Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2024
  • Our country is doing so badly with the borders, with the military, with the lack of respect all over the world.
    NBC News, 17 Sep. 2023
  • In the United States, residents of Vermont were badly hit by floods, and some homes were washed away.
    Larissa Gao, NBC News, 14 July 2023
  • Is that skin going to be more likely to behave badly with surgery?
    Kara Nesvig, Allure, 12 Aug. 2024
  • But there is a gradation of injury even among those hurt badly enough to be sent to a trauma unit.
    Paul Sisson, The Mercury News, 21 Oct. 2024
  • The Russian government wanted to put pressure on the United States by treating me badly.
    CBS News, 20 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'badly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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