worse
Appearance
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English worse, werse, from Old English wiersa, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Cognate with Dutch wers (“worse”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /wɜːs/
- (US) IPA(key): /wɝs/
- (US, New York City, archaic) IPA(key): [wəɪs]
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s
Adjective
[edit]worse
- comparative form of bad: more bad
- Your exam results are worse than before.
- The harder you try, the worse you do.
Derived terms
[edit]- bad comes to worse
- be the worse for drink
- for better or for worse
- for better or worse
- for the worse
- go from bad to worse
- make matters worse
- none the worse
- none to the worse
- one's bark is worse than one's bite
- so much the worse
- so much the worse for
- take a turn for the worse
- the cure is worse than the disease
- what is worse
- worse-case
- worse comes to worse
- worse comes to worst
- worse for liquor
- worse for ware
- worse for wear
- worse luck
- worse off
- worse things happen at sea
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]comparative form of bad
|
Adverb
[edit]worse
- comparative form of badly (adverb): more badly
- He drives worse than anyone I know.
- 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:
- 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.
- More severely or seriously.
- (sentence adverb) Used to start a sentence describing something that is worse.
- Her leg is infected. Still worse, she's developing a fever.
Translations
[edit]comparative of badly
|
Noun
[edit]worse
- (obsolete) Loss; disadvantage; defeat[1]
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 4:12:
- 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
[edit]worse (third-person singular simple present worses, present participle worsing, simple past and past participle worsed)
- (obsolete, transitive) To make worse; to put at disadvantage; to discomfit.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- Weapons more violent, when next we meet, / May serve to better us and worse our foes.
References
[edit]- ^ “worse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
[edit]Afrikaans
[edit]Noun
[edit]worse
Chinese
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]worse
- (Hong Kong Cantonese) bad; terrible (usually used with intensifier 好)
- 2012 January 20, 楊千樺 [Miriam Yeung], quotee, “楊千嬅最壞打算屋企生”, in 東方日報[1]:
- 「醫生幫我搞好晒!應該冇問題卦!不過如果好worse嘅話,惟有用最古老方法喺屋企生囉!咁突發都估計唔到架!」
- Doctors will help me settle everything properly. There should be no problem. But if it becomes very bad, then I will have to use the ancient way of giving birth at home. No one knows if this can suddenly happen!
- 2020 January 22, 馬仲儀, quotee, “【武漢肺炎大爆發】新病毒與冬季流感同時殺到 前線醫護憂隱性個案爆發”, in 眾新聞[2]:
- 「逼到你伸開隻手就掂到對方(鄰床病人),好worse㗎嘛。」
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 2020 May 31, 阿然, quotee, “【香港的傷痕】一名大學生的四件事——上Gear、被捕、求醫、見官”, in 獨立媒體[3]:
- 「如果我變返做勇武,咁情況一定好worse(糟糕),有啲嘢令我睇唔過眼。」
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 2022 May 27, 黃世英, quotee, “【母親節】乳癌化療期再染新冠撐過痛楚 媽媽:只想三代同堂樂聚天倫”, in 香港經濟日報 TOPick[4]:
- 自己當時懷孕近九個月,而疫情嚴重,不方便外出,一想到不能探望、買物資送給在家隔離的媽媽,心裡非常擔憂,睇唔到佢幾辛苦,我又大住肚,嗰日喊咗一個朝早,覺得好無助,世界好worse(糟糕),公立醫院冇晒資源。
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Middle English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- wars, warse, weers, weorse, werce, wers, werse, wershe, wersse, wirse, wors, worsse
- wærse, werrse, wrse, wurse (Early Middle English)
Etymology
[edit]From Old English wiersa, from Proto-West Germanic *wirssō, variant of *wirsiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Doublet of werre (“worse”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]worse
Descendants
[edit]References
[edit]- “werse, adj. (comparative).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Adverb
[edit]worse
- comparative degree of yvel (adverb)
- comparative degree of ille (adverb)
Descendants
[edit]References
[edit]- “werse, adv. comparative.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Noun
[edit]worse (uncountable)
Related terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]References
[edit]- “wers(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *wers- (rise)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)s
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)s/1 syllable
- English non-lemma forms
- English comparative adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English comparative adverbs
- English terms with quotations
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with unknown or uncertain plurals
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- Afrikaans non-lemma forms
- Afrikaans noun forms
- Cantonese terms borrowed from English
- Cantonese terms derived from English
- Cantonese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Chinese lemmas
- Chinese adjectives
- Cantonese adjectives
- Cantonese lemmas
- Hong Kong Cantonese
- Chinese terms with quotations
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *wers- (rise)
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English doublets
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English non-lemma forms
- Middle English comparative adjectives
- Middle English comparative adverbs
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English uncountable nouns