BAD

I. adjective

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a bad atmosphere

▪

There's a bad atmosphere among the staff.

a bad cold

▪

If you have a bad cold, just stay in bed.

a bad complexion (= with spots or marks on it )

a bad cough

▪

Jason’s at home with a bad cough.

a bad day (= in which things have happened in a way you do not want )

▪

I’ve had a really bad day !

a bad debt (= one that is unlikely to be paid back )

▪

Companies lose millions of pounds each year from having to write off bad debts.

a bad decision

▪

I think he made a bad decision.

a bad dream (= unpleasant or frightening )

▪

The movie gave the kids bad dreams.

a bad driver

▪

There are a lot of bad drivers on the roads.

a bad guy (= a person who is responsible for something bad that happens, or a person who you do not like )

▪

I'm fed up with people always thinking that I am the bad guy.

▪

Mike's not a bad guy.

a bad mood

▪

The news had put her in a bad mood.

a bad move

▪

It was a bad move letting him come here in the first place.

a bad name

▪

Most students feel that both boys and girls deserve a bad name if they sleep around.

a bad precedent

▪

Such a harsh punishment would set a bad precedent.

a bad reaction

▪

She had a bad reaction to the medicine.

a bad state ( also a poor/sorry state )

▪

The report commented on the poor state of the roads.

a bad/negative image

▪

It’s difficult to explain why the industry has such a bad image.

▪

Many negative images of women are found in the media.

a bad/negative impression

▪

Arriving late for an interview gives a very negative impression.

a bad/negative influence

▪

He thought her friends were a bad influence.

a bad/ominous sign

▪

The jury was taking ages to make up its mind, which he felt was probably a bad sign.

a bad/poor investment

▪

The shares turned out to be a poor investment.

a bad/poor/disastrous start

▪

Things got off to a bad start when two people turned up late.

a bad/serious accident

▪

There’s been a bad accident on the freeway.

▪

The road is closed following a serious accident.

a bad/terrible joke (= not funny )

▪

Dad was known for his bad jokes.

a bad/terrible storm

▪

This was the worst storm for 50 years.

a bad/terrible/dreadful etc mistake

▪

It would be a terrible mistake to marry him.

a bad/terrible/nasty temper

▪

He ran back home in a terrible temper.

a bad/weak heart (= an unhealthy heart )

▪

The effort proved too much for her weak heart.

a big/bad defeat ( also a heavy defeat British English ) (= by a large amount )

▪

The polls were forecasting a heavy defeat for the President.

a good/bad child

▪

Be a good child and sit down!

a good/bad etc kisser

a good/bad experience

▪

On the whole, going to boarding school was a good experience for him.

▪

I've had some bad experiences when I've been travelling on my own.

a good/bad habit

▪

Eating healthy food as snacks is a good habit to get into.

a good/bad idea

▪

Keeping the drinks cold in the bath was a good idea.

▪

Knocking down this wall was a really bad idea.

a good/bad spell

▪

The team had some good spells during the match.

a good/bad/ill omen

▪

The mist seemed like a bad omen and Sara’s heart sank a little.

a run of good/bad luck (= a series of good or bad things )

▪

The team has had a run of bad luck lately, losing their last five games.

a serious/bad error

▪

The police made a serious error, which resulted in a young man’s death.

a situation worsens/deteriorates/gets worse

▪

Reports from the area suggest the situation has worsened.

assume the worst (= think that the worst possible thing had happened )

▪

When it got to midnight and Paul was still not back, I began to assume the worst .

bad advice

▪

Financial advisors can be fined if they give bad advice to a client.

bad breath (= that smells unpleasant )

▪

Smoking gives you bad breath.

bad cholesterol

bad debt

bad driving

▪

Bad driving can cause potentially fatal accidents.

bad guy

bad hair day

bad line

▪

I’m sorry, it’s a bad line and I can’t hear you.

bad luck

▪

His bad luck continued.

bad manners

▪

She apologized for her son’s bad manners.

bad news

▪

‘I’m afraid I have bad news,’ said Jackson.

▪

Have you heard the terrible news about Simon?

bad planning

▪

‘I’ve got no money left.’ ‘That was bad planning.’

bad points

▪

What would you say are Natalie’s bad points?

bad publicity ( also adverse/negative publicity formal )

▪

Fatty foods have received much bad publicity in recent years.

▪

They don't want any more adverse publicity.

bad (= one that is making you cough or giving you pain )

▪

I'm not going running today - my chest is bad.

bad

▪

Working too hard was beginning to have a bad effect on my health.

bad

▪

If you get a bad grade, Mrs. Miller will help you until you can do better.

bad

▪

Later that evening, the pain was really bad.

bad (= wet or stormy )

▪

Several flights were cancelled owing to bad weather.

bad/nasty (= wide or deep and bleeding a lot )

▪

The cut looked quite bad.

▪

How did you get that nasty cut?

bad/naughty boy

▪

‘You naughty boy!’ she said in a harsh voice.

bad/poor

▪

Moles have very poor eyesight.

bad/poor

▪

Poor hearing can affect your social relationships.

bad/poor

▪

The city doesn’t deserve its bad reputation.

bad/poor/terrible

▪

A student with a poor memory may struggle in school.

bad/poor/terrible/awful

▪

Why do doctors have such terrible handwriting?

bad/rotten

▪

She felt ashamed of her bad teeth and rarely smiled.

bad/serious/severe

▪

The mines have caused serious pollution of the river system.

▪

The pollution was so bad that most of the fish died.

bad/severe migraine

▪

He suffers from severe migraine.

bad/terrible

▪

The traffic was terrible this morning.

bad/terrible (= with many spots or marks )

▪

I had terrible skin when I was a teenager.

▪

My skin’s really bad at the moment.

bad/terrible/severe

▪

I’ve got a really bad headache.

bad/unpleasant/horrible etc

▪

The smell in the shed was awful.

be bigger/smaller/worse etc than you had imagined

▪

The job interview proved to be much worse than I had imagined it would be.

be good/bad for morale

▪

Well-deserved praise is always good for morale.

be good/bad for the environment

▪

Plastic bags are bad for the environment.

be good/bad for your health

▪

Eating plenty of vegetables is good for your health.

bring sb (good/bad) luck

▪

He always carried the stone in his pocket; he reckoned it brought him luck.

create a good/bad atmosphere

▪

Lighting is one of the most effective ways of creating a good atmosphere.

gave it up as a bad job (= stopped trying because success seemed unlikely )

▪

The ground was too hard to dig so I gave it up as a bad job .

get off to a good/bad etc start

▪

On your first day at work, you want to get off to a good start.

give sb/sth a bad name (= make someone or something have a bad reputation )

▪

A scandal like this could give the university a bad name.

go bad/sour etc

▪

The bread’s gone mouldy.

good going/not bad going

▪

We climbed the mountain in three hours, which wasn’t bad going.

good/bad circulation

▪

Doctors had to remove her leg because of bad circulation.

good/bad dancer

▪

Dave’s a good dancer.

good/bad etc at (doing) sth

▪

I’ve always been good at maths.

▪

Matt’s bad at handling people.

good/bad etc memories

▪

He left school with good memories of his time there.

good/bad etc posture

▪

Poor posture can lead to muscular problems.

good/bad etc vibes

▪

I have good vibes about this contract.

good/bad karma

▪

The house had a lot of bad karma.

good/bad loser (= someone who behaves well or badly after losing )

good/bad management

▪

good management and co-operation with staff

good/bad

▪

The boys were suspended from school for bad behaviour.

▪

His good behaviour did not last long.

good/bad

▪

a lazy student with a bad attitude

good/bad/poor sportsmanship (= good or bad behaviour in a sport )

▪

We try to teach the kids good sportsmanship.

good/bad/slow etc service

▪

The service was terrible and so was the food.

have a bad night (= not sleep well, especially when you are ill )

▪

I had a bad night last night.

have a good/bad etc reputation

▪

The law firm has an excellent reputation.

have a good/bad etc start

▪

We’ve had a disappointing start but we are hoping to improve.

have a good/bad/long etc day

▪

Simon looked as if he’d had a bad day at the office.

have good/bad etc hearing

▪

Dogs have excellent hearing.

have good/bad etc weather

▪

We have had lovely weather all week.

have good/bad luck

▪

I’ve had a bit of bad luck.

have good/bad manners

▪

All their children have such good manners.

have the (good/bad) luck to do sth

▪

He had the good luck to meet a man who could help him.

hit a snag/problems/a bad patch etc

▪

My father hit a bad patch, he had to sell the house.

in good/bad/terrible etc condition

▪

How do you keep your hair in such perfect condition?

it’s good/bad manners to do sth

▪

It’s bad manners to chew with your mouth open.

least worst

▪

Often it’s a question of choosing the least worst option.

longer/higher/worse etc than usual

▪

It is taking longer than usual for orders to reach our customers.

look good/bad etc

▪

The future’s looking good.

make a good/bad/early etc start

▪

He made a flying start at college, but then he didn't manage to keep it up.

make sth the best/worst/most expensive etc

▪

Over 80,000 people attended, making it the biggest sporting event in the area.

make things worse/easier/difficult

▪

Measures to slow down traffic on the main street have actually made things worse.

of the worst/best etc kind

▪

This is hypocrisy of the worst kind.

painted...in a bad light (= described him in a way that made him seem bad )

▪

The article painted him in a bad light .

perfect/good/bad etc timing

▪

He was just walking into the restaurant when we got there. Perfect timing.

poor/bad (= with few crops )

▪

A series of poor harvests plunged them into debt.

poor/bad (= not bright enough )

▪

The light was too poor for me to read.

prepared for the worst (= expected something very bad )

▪

There was no news and we were prepared for the worst .

put in/up a (good/bad etc) performance

▪

Liverpool put in a marvellous performance in the second half.

run of good/bad luck

▪

Losing my job was the start of a run of bad luck that year.

sb's eyesight gets worse/deteriorates

▪

Your eyesight gradually deteriorates with age.

sb's hearing gets worse ( also sb's hearing deteriorates )

▪

The medication seemed to make her hearing get worse.

sb's worst nightmare (= the worst possible situation )

▪

The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was farming's worst nightmare.

sb’s worst/greatest fear

▪

Her worst fear was never seeing her children again.

serious/severe/bad

▪

He was taken to Broomfield Hospital with serious head wounds.

significantly better/greater/worse etc

▪

Delia’s work has been significantly better this year.

smell bad/awful etc

▪

Cigarettes make your clothes smell awful.

take a turn for the worse/better

▪

Two days after the operation, Dad took a turn for the worse.

the bad guy (= a man in a book or movie who does bad things )

▪

The bad guys all have guns.

the bearer of bad news

▪

I hate to be the bearer of bad news , but ...

the best/worst kind

▪

Not knowing what had happened to her was the worst kind of torture.

the best/worst part

▪

The worst part was having to work even when it was raining.

the good news is …/the bad news is ... (= used to introduce a piece of good and bad news )

▪

The good news is that most stores have the game in stock; the bad news is that it's not cheap.

the pain gets worse

▪

If the pain gets any worse, see your doctor.

the very best/latest/worst etc

▪

We only use the very best ingredients.

the worst hit

▪

The south of the country is the worst hit by the recession.

the worst moment

▪

Standing on the edge waiting to do your bungee jump is the worst moment.

the worst offender

▪

Among causes of air pollution, car exhaust fumes may be the worst offender .

the worst recession

▪

Colombia is going through its worst recession in decades.

the worst scandal (= the biggest or most shocking )

▪

Total losses resulting from India's worst financial scandal amounted to Rs31,000 million.

the worst-case/worst scenario (= the worst thing that might happen )

▪

The worst-case scenario is that it is already too late to do anything about global warming.

things get worse

▪

As the recession proceeds, things will get worse.

went from bad to worse (= got even worse )

▪

When she arrived, things just went from bad to worse !

went from bad to worse (= got even worse )

▪

When she arrived, things just went from bad to worse !

worse off

▪

The rent increases will leave us worse off.

worse than useless (= not useful, and causing harm or problems )

▪

It would be worse than useless to try and complain about him.

worst excesses

▪

He lived through some of the worst excesses of apartheid in South Africa.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ NOUN

behaviour

▪

The butcher chases them off the rock with kicks and abusive shouts, as though punishing them for bad behaviour .

▪

Good Book - bad behaviour I was delighted to read David Helton's biblical approach to his subject.

▪

In established States, less serious forms of bad behaviour are also permitted.

▪

What is her attitude towards tantrums or bad behaviour and what action would she take on your behalf?

▪

And, more importantly, some one who doesn't let her get away with tantrums, bossiness or bad behaviour .

▪

It is generally not useful to speculate that such time-removed antecedents are associated with bad behaviour .

▪

Try to catch him or her out in good as well as bad behaviour .

▪

Teachers were criticised for allowing bad behaviour .

boy

▪

Then old man Lawton goes missing and suspicion fixes on his son, Ronny, the local bad boy .

▪

His bad boy always drove me to my vivacious good girl.

▪

He always presented himself as the redeemed bad boy , but it was a lie, she says.

▪

He is not a bad boy .

▪

Another rehabilitated star admitting he was a bad boy .

▪

Nat is not, we say, actually, we say, a bad boy .

▪

In fact, Kaptan was not such a bad boy .

▪

Roberts' eyes widen, as if Gibson was the school bad boy and had just told off the principal.

case

▪

Indeed, at one point the peak of a worst case fluctuation actually exceeds that of the best case.

▪

The economy had not just a passing cold but a bad case of the flu.

▪

The worst case scenario suggests aircraft could be responsible for up to 43 percent of the projected rise in global temperature.

▪

Despite all this ingenuity, the Malibu has been built with a bad case of the rolling uglies.

▪

He says it's one of the worst cases he's seen.

▪

It was several times worse than the worst case the computer models had predicted.

▪

Its bite produces a worm which swells up the blood vessels, causing ulcers and, in the worst cases , blindness.

▪

He had arrived from Minneapolis in a linen suit and had a bad case of the trots.

day

▪

Perhaps the worst day of all Sunday.

▪

A Sheila na gigh which now resembled Beirut on a bad day .

▪

And you thought you were having a bad day .

▪

Mr Howard painted a picture of industrial unrest under Labour rivalling the worst days of the 1970s.

▪

However, on a bad day chaos reigns, and nobody can predict a likely departure time.

▪

They had a bad day in the office.

▪

After this bad day , anyone not tucked up in bed is making them suspicious.

debt

▪

Of the top 19 banks, 13 are expected to make losses this year as they write off bad debts .

▪

The previous year, when profits were just £36 million, bad debts totalled £903 million.

▪

The group made a £597m charge to cover possible bad debts .

▪

The incidence of bad debt , he concluded, was socially unacceptable and financially disastrous.

▪

Most large societies have also made heavy provisions against bad debts .

▪

The Royal Bank has suffered a slide in profits to £20.9 million from £57.7 million and has seen bad debts soar.

▪

In the event the anticipated collapse of the first genetic engineering company amid a pile of bad debts did not come about.

▪

Unfortunately most of the extra cash grabbed was swallowed up by bad debts .

dream

▪

All night he had bad dreams , terrible dreams.

▪

I was used to my bad dreams and the attacks of panic that followed them.

▪

Well, it happened, one night, between bad dreams .

▪

The illness and those involved faded like a bad dream .

▪

Be understanding if he or she suddenly starts wetting the bed or crying for attention following a bad dream in the night.

▪

I've forgotten to write down the bad dream I had last night.

▪

Well no, she didn't really have bad dreams - oh ... but that was before ... she remembered.

▪

They were not really bad dreams , more an aching yearning pain that seemed to permeate her very being.

experience

▪

But what happens if work is demonstrably and objectively a bad experience ?

▪

Long jumping was a bad experience , and Edwards never distinguished himself in it.

▪

However, invariably, it is not only bad experiences of learning that are committed to memory.

▪

If they had a bad experience , it could be they wish not to speak to us.

▪

Hardness A hard Rottweiler is one who does not allow bad experiences to affect him permanently.

▪

They may have bad experiences from visiting prisons in the past.

▪

As I say I've not had anything like the bad experience of it that a lot of people have had.

▪

They had many bad experiences to relate on this score.

faith

▪

In the present case the plaintiff did not allege, nor did the judge find, any bad faith by the defendants.

▪

School officials can lose this qualified privilege if they act in bad faith or without regard for whether the statements are true.

▪

And some councils are acting in bad faith .

▪

I think a leap of bad faith was made.

▪

It is indeed difficult to conceive of bad faith which would not automatically render applicable one of the two traditional control mechanisms.

▪

Nevertheless, with the passage of time the Soviet side could begin to accuse us of bad faith .

▪

No doubt the missio, with its insistence on proving bad faith , had not been a wholly satisfactory remedy.

▪

I can't help feeling, therefore, that your critical position relies on a heavy dose of bad faith .

guy

▪

As I have had reason to observe before, the malai medics weren't such bad guys .

▪

In one I had to sit all night in the woods, completely still, while the bad guys circled nearby.

▪

For me, we were the good guys and they were the bad guys.

▪

The bad guy had become the good guy, the almost great guy.

▪

He is the uneducated country underdog who takes on the bad guys from the big city and wins.

▪

Maybe the bad guys on the ground thought we were giving them a bath or something.

▪

For years he had continued a running battle with producers and film companies whom he saw as the bad guys .

▪

Consider the sinister, theatrical laugh of the matinee bad guy .

habit

▪

Ever since I was a teenager, I have had the bad habit of pulling and twisting my hair.

▪

They are not aware of their bad habits .

▪

So what can we do about bad habits in horses?

▪

But that lone bad habit burns through your writing like a blowtorch, outshining all the others.

▪

A person may develop bad habits that need correction.

▪

The singer evinced one bad habit in the Mahler group, a tendency to scoop into opening phrases.

▪

Unwittingly she was operating the intermittent reinforcement principle in support of a bad habit !

▪

Simply determine which structural bad habit is most pronounced and edit for that.

idea

▪

She had no doubt it would be a very bad idea for them to go in search of Oliver and Cobalt.

▪

This is both a bad idea and bad timing.

▪

The paper claimed that most businessmen believed that it was a bad idea to change horses in midstream.

▪

Requiring a central bank to support a flagging currency will remain a bad idea after the union is formed, Tietmeyer said.

▪

I mean, it's not a bad idea , Chief Inspector.

▪

So fission power is an even worse idea .

▪

Here, he will say, is another fashionable and bad idea .

▪

A quick history lesson by their coaches may not be a bad idea .

luck

▪

But to Profumo's bad luck , other newsworthy circumstances were available to salt the story.

▪

Unfortunately, the gents had bad luck .

▪

He confesses that he had the bad luck to cross both Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush.

▪

Nearly all gone now, worse luck , and the guv'nor's arrived to read the riot act.

▪

People take something, then have all this bad luck .

▪

He believes the placement of the tree is bad luck .

▪

You go up there with the wrong attitude and come out with worse luck than you had before.

mood

▪

The feeling of contentment produced by gin-and-water had now disappeared, and the beadle was in a bad mood once more.

▪

Jerome had just changed his, but he was none the less still in a very bad mood .

▪

He was away all week and now arrived back on Friday evenings in a ready-made bad mood .

▪

No, our bad mood is caused by the bad mood of the adolescent children with whom we live.

▪

Today he was in a particularly bad mood .

▪

Despite bad moods and worse manners, the car could always be tamed by appreciation, patience and just enough rein.

▪

Ignore her, she is in a bad mood today.

name

▪

Bringing a bad name on two families.

▪

On the field, he is annoying and irritating and gives high-salaried athletes more of a bad name than they already have.

▪

Good technology has gained a bad name .

▪

This is the sort of self-serving, insincere baloney that gives good government a bad name .

▪

Bertie: That's exactly the sort of Stupid Cult that gives culture a bad name .

▪

This is the kind of disingenuous hair-splitting that gives politics a bad name .

▪

What happened is indisputable: students, and the institutions to which they belonged, acquired a bad name universally.

▪

These holy rollers gave all the churches a bad name .

news

▪

There is even worse news to come.

▪

But it was also because caregivers were reluctant, sometimes for good reason, to bear bad news .

▪

But the bad news is that the schemes require a 10-year commitment.

▪

Analysts had figured the bad news from the giant microprocessor maker would put a damper on technology stocks.

▪

After the next fifty yards I drew it out and took a look at the bad news .

▪

It is not all bad news for Gore.

▪

All this is bad news for Texas agriculture.

press

▪

Murders get a lot of bad press , so you don't publish the numbers.

▪

I think this is one of those projects that certainly got its share of bad press .

▪

Interwar Socialist Realism Socialist realism has a bad press in the West.

▪

We had bad press , we had a lawsuit.

▪

Free-electron lasers on the whole have had a rather bad press .

▪

Predictably, the law practice has caused Brown to be dogged by bad press .

▪

But gossip hasn't always had such bad press .

▪

Now I know Utopianism has recently had a bad press .

publicity

▪

Embarrassed bank officials agreed not to call in police rather than lose the entire haul and face bad publicity .

▪

When that received bad publicity , he promoted the Texas Guinan fat reducer.

▪

Much of the bad publicity came directly from the philistinism of the tabloid press.

▪

The delaying action kept the case out of court and minimized bad publicity until after he won re-election.

▪

Apparently there is such a thing as bad publicity .

▪

One reason commercial diet companies are having problems is that they received a lot of bad publicity in the early nineties.

▪

In the end the company Sure Style Windows, of Bury got nothing, but bad publicity .

▪

The workers said the campaign was attracting bad publicity for their company and putting their livelihoods at risk.

shape

▪

Others trying to do that, like Lucent, Alcatel and Nortel, are in at least as bad shape as Marconi.

▪

Sandy was in such bad shape .

▪

Everything up there's a complete write-off, and most of the first floor's in pretty bad shape .

▪

Uptown was still in bad shape .

▪

The galleys were in bad shape .

▪

You see children living in rooms that are in really bad shape .

▪

I knew that several of the others were in as bad shape as myself - probably worse.

▪

Representative government on Capitol Hill is in the worst shape I have seen it...

situation

▪

Students desperate to leave home may find themselves in a worse situation than the one they left.

▪

We put ourselves in bad situations .

▪

In my own school, there was another bad situation in a Fourth Grade class across the stair landing.

▪

Denying schooling, however, would just make a bad situation worse.

▪

This nearly always results in drifting further back without much gain of height and ending up in a worse situation than before.

▪

The worst situation was amidships, by the base of the mainmast.

start

▪

In the difficult job of getting through one's life happily, she had made a bad start .

▪

The bold event got off to a bad start .

▪

From that bad start , many little rotten apples grew.

▪

Only in 1993-94 did San Jose manage to survive a bad start .

▪

In an area with no obstetric service there is logic in this, but babies get the worst start in life.

▪

It was the worst start in the history of sports.

▪

Got off to a bad start because of its high price and lack of games.

▪

It was a bad start to the morning, and the rest of the day lived up to its promise.

taste

▪

And the resolution to this scene is exquisite in its chutzpah and farcical bad taste .

▪

Both are nuts, leave a bad taste and no one really understands why this tradition continues.&038;.

▪

I jolt awake with a bad taste in my mouth and my left eyelid stuck down again.

▪

When I suggested that oversized shirts were therefore counterproductive, he shut me up with a reminder of my previous bad taste .

▪

What exactly was Nichols' role: willing accomplice, or merely a man with a bad taste in friends?

▪

People just look faintly embarrassed at this bad taste .

▪

Private Parts is the second film so far this year that takes bad taste and turns it into a crusade.

temper

▪

Jane departed in floods of tears and Rosemary duly arrived, in a very bad temper .

▪

Too bad a promising young fellow should have dangerous opinions and a bad temper .

▪

We were all in a bad temper , acting like children.

▪

Kelly ruled by his bad temper .

▪

Sir Emmanuel had a terrible bad temper and was often full of whisky.

▪

As it was, I left in a bad temper which grew with every difficulty along the way.

▪

He believed she must have received some of his mailings by now as she was in an even worse temper than usual.

▪

It was clear, she told me, that Scott got his bad temper from his father.

thing

▪

That might be no bad thing .

▪

It turned out to be the next worst thing .

▪

Perhaps that was the worst thing that could happen to a human being.

▪

And the worst thing was that I really had little choice but to bow to their wishes.

▪

That is a bad thing in itself, for it means less competition and more wasted resources.

▪

Sometimes he did bad things just to be loved, and sometimes he hated himself for needing love so badly.

▪

And it is also good to think in terms of what bad things could happen.

things

▪

Metal fatigue has to be one of the worst things that can happen.

▪

They were out there trying to judge me and talk about all the bad things I did.

▪

Smallfry had forgotten to warn him because he had done so many bad things and caused a lot of trouble.

▪

She was a bad kid who did bad things .

▪

It was going to be a present for herself, a comfort after the bad things she had endured.

▪

Clearly, he has realized how bad things already are.

▪

It shows that however bad things are now - and they are pretty desperate - they are going to get much worse.

▪

And it is also good to think in terms of what bad things could happen.

time

▪

See, what happened to Rod is that he came along at a bad time in track and field.

▪

Amy glossed over the bad times .

▪

It was a bad time to have chosen for confrontation.

▪

That's what keeps friendships going, the bad times .

▪

I thought it would be great down there, but I started having a bad time so I went back to Newcastle.

▪

And it was still a bad time for the people in the middle.

▪

He threw one the very worst time , up on top of the wall, and the other kids all shunned away.

▪

His father, my ex-husband, was chronically depressed, just had a real bad time coping with life.

way

▪

Sometimes aircraft returning across the Channel are in a bad way .

▪

There are, however, better and worse ways of handling human problems.

▪

Not a bad way to go, in a blaze of your own gunpowder.

▪

I wanted in the worst way to ask him.

▪

She's in a bad way trying to have her pups.

▪

It was done in a bad way .

▪

Some are in a bad way so we share what we have.

▪

The feds wanted him to talk in the worst way .

weather

▪

Started four years ago, the work has been delayed by bad weather and geological problems.

▪

The only consoling thought was that the bad weather now extended south down the coast and would hold the Columbia up too.

▪

I don't know if it's pedestrianisation or the bad weather .

▪

The first, last year, was canceled because of bad weather .

▪

But it is not just bad weather which takes the gilt off the packed-lunch gingerbread.

▪

When bad weather turns up, one of the first places people turn to is the video store.

▪

Along the prom the amusements and rides were still open but the bad weather had kept people away.

▪

Our raft travelled so slowly that we could not run away from bad weather .

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

good/bad timekeeper

a bad/difficult/sticky/rough patch

▪

Even when they knew he was going through a bad patch they would continue to deliver dangerous back-passes to him.

▪

Every team goes through a bad patch .

▪

Evode has gone through a sticky patch .

▪

Having hit a bad patch , financially, I decided I must try for some paid work with my knitting machine.

▪

Ruefully, she recalled her pleasure at the way the book, after a difficult patch , had begun to develop.

▪

Sometimes I am a real power pack of efficiency; then I hit a bad patch .

▪

Talk about hitting a bad patch .

▪

The Royal Family is certainly going through a rough patch .

a bad/poor sport

▪

He told everyone Norm was a hothead, a poor sport , a disgrace as a Catholic, and a lousy catcher.

▪

It is not good for a player to be considered a poor sport .

a bum/bad rap

▪

She said social programs of the 1960s have gotten a bad rap in the 1990s.

▪

They got me on a bum rap .

▪

Yalta's bad name was in some ways a bum rap .

a fate worse than death

▪

I knew that Grandma's visit would be a fate worse than death.

▪

After all, she didn't know him, and a fate worse than death might just be awaiting her.

▪

It certainly wasn't because he was trying to save her from a Fate Worse than Death.

▪

There are various Pelagias who are known as penitent harlots or virgin martyrs who died to escape a fate worse than death.

▪

We've even growled at the horse, and threatened it with a fate worse than death, but to no avail!

a good/bad etc shot

▪

But Nogai's a good shot .

▪

Ed Kelley was a good shot .

▪

He made a good shot from there and holed a three-foot putt for a quadruple-bogey eight.

▪

If I hit a bad shot , I try to minimize its effect.

▪

Klingler made it clear at the end of 1996 that he wanted a better shot at moving up the depth chart.

▪

That much was the least expected of a hunter who had made a bad shot .

▪

They have a better shot at claiming the governorship.

▪

Tom played a bad shot out of the bunker, and he does no more than charge straight at this press guy.

a good/bad judge of sth

▪

Sarah's not a very good judge of character.

▪

And for all his imagination, he was not a good judge of character on limited acquaintance.

▪

But Anya's a better judge of character than she used to be, back in the old homeland.

▪

He's also a good judge of a quick run.

▪

He was a good judge of character, hated hypocrisy, and had no time for conceit.

▪

I didn't protest as it was his fence officially, and he was supposed to be a good judge of torque.

▪

It was not that he was too sure of himself simply that he was a good judge of the possible.

▪

Munnings, he told reporters, was a better judge of horses than paintings.

at (the) worst

▪

Many drivers feel their job is unpleasant at best, and dangerous at worst .

▪

Developing these required equations is at best difficult and at worst nearly impossible.

▪

Him, with him: the worst man in the worst place at the worst time.

▪

If we drop a tin can probably nothing will happen; at the worst we may make a small dent.

▪

In most cases doing a course of any kind will, at worst , just be a small waste of time.

▪

Naturally, it happened at the worst possible time.

▪

Patient and neutral stares at worst .

▪

The first assumption of the Census Bureau, therefore, must be viewed as fatuous at worst , naive at best.

▪

Up until then I had sometimes seen writing as at best a compulsion and at worst a sickness.

at your best/worst/most effective etc

bad faith

▪

And some councils are acting in bad faith .

▪

Guinness was accused of bad faith , in particular for failing to adhere to promises made in the official offer documents.

▪

I can't help feeling, therefore, that your critical position relies on a heavy dose of bad faith .

▪

I think a leap of bad faith was made.

▪

In Anisminic, Lord Reid gave the following examples: It may have given its decision in bad faith .

▪

In the present case the plaintiff did not allege, nor did the judge find, any bad faith by the defendants.

▪

School officials can lose this qualified privilege if they act in bad faith or without regard for whether the statements are true.

▪

What intrigues me about programmes like You've Been Framed is their bad faith .

bad form

▪

He asked Billy what he thought the worst form of execution was.

▪

Self-interest was the worst sin and slaveholding was the worst form of self-interest.

▪

Tainting the courts with politics is very bad form , but apparently irresistible.

▪

The most terrible bad form . 5.

▪

They need an exorcist to figure out what in the devil possessed them to return to their worst form from last season.

▪

We all now agree with Churchill's adage: democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.

▪

Wilful impediment of the sacred moves was not only ill-mannered, but the worst form of blasphemy.

bad hair day

▪

I felt miserable and realised the hair of my dreams had turned into the worst bad hair day you could imagine.

▪

Your basic bad hair day at the photo lab.

bad luck

▪

Bad luck , Paul. I'm sure you'll pass next time.

▪

It was just bad luck that she happened to get sick that day.

▪

Oh what a shame. Bad luck Chris.

▪

She seems to have nothing but bad luck when it comes to men.

▪

Talk about bad luck ! Last night Ray's car was broken into for the second time this month.

▪

All that stood in the way of victory was a touch of bad luck .

▪

Despite their current run of bad luck , the Giants are drawing record crowds at Scottsdale Stadium.

▪

Is it because such a meeting would bring bad luck or is there another reason?

▪

It is your bad luck if the warren you choose to ferret is one of these.

▪

Only bad luck and poor finishing prevented Hibs from grabbing an equaliser.

▪

They believe it is bad luck .

bad/difficult/hard etc enough

▪

Even a Patel, probably a Bhatt if I looked hard enough .

▪

It's bad enough trying to fly with unequal line lengths; having an asymmetric kite can be most frustrating!

▪

She identified the problem not as trying too hard to live up to a domestic ideal but as not trying hard enough .

▪

Since the cold war ended in 1988, they have worked hard enough to produce some kind of an economic miracle.

▪

That was going to be difficult enough anyway.

▪

The ties with the past difficult enough to sever already.

▪

This would be bad enough if California prisons were full of nothing but Charles Mansons.

bad/good sailor

▪

Although he was a good sailor , Columbus was a bad governor.

▪

As a yacht delivery skipper he had to be a damn good sailor .

▪

Even the best sailors can be swept into them, apart from which they can cause all sorts of damage to your equipment.

▪

How he got there no-one knows, but he was a very good sailor and an even better artist.

▪

I have never been a good sailor , and kept to my bunk for the first part of the journey.

▪

Ironically I do not make a very good sailor .

▪

Turns out all of us are pretty good sailors .

bad/hard/tough luck

▪

Can't have that, can we, not on top of all your other hard luck .

▪

He felt that this little piece of bad luck might affect his whole day.

▪

I kept looking into the mirror and hating my bad luck , but there they were.

▪

There were lots of near misses: some great saves from both keepers, and sheer bad luck .

▪

Unfortunately, the gents had bad luck .

▪

You go up there with the wrong attitude and come out with worse luck than you had before.

bad/ill feeling

▪

There have been bad feelings between area residents and police.

▪

Even though Amelia participated so little in school activities, she harbored no ill feelings toward Hyde Park.

▪

I figure there had to be some bad feeling .

▪

I got a very bad feeling as we pitched into the bathroom and-fumbled for the mouthwash.

▪

I have bad feelings for the smugglers, though.

▪

It's got bad feelings for me, this room.

▪

It was the start of bad feeling between the two.

▪

Jane Blasio harbors no ill feelings toward Hicks.

▪

There is no bad feeling between us.

be good/bad news for sb

▪

House prices are very low, which is good news for first-time buyers.

▪

Although the licensing agreement is good news for Apple, some wonder whether it is too little, too late.

▪

As Ohio goes, so goes the nation, and that may be good news for President Clinton.

▪

Gordon Brown also promised Labour would be good news for big employers ... like the nearby Rover plant in Cowley.

▪

Growing demand for such equipment is good news for the helicopter's distributors McAlpine based at Kidlington in Oxfordshire.

▪

Paperwork for files has been reduced and the threshold for compliance raised; both changes are good news for filers.

▪

The latest financial results are good news for a company that has struggled for years.

▪

This is good news for the hotelier who is prepared.

▪

This theft can only be bad news for the preservation movement.

be in a good/bad etc place

be in sb's good/bad books

be meant to be good/excellent/bad etc

be your own worst enemy

▪

Many drivers are their own worst enemy -- driving too close, driving too fast, all the usual faults.

▪

My mother was her own worst enemy . She knew she was ill but she did nothing to help herself.

▪

In other words, we are our own worst enemy .

▪

My father was his own worst enemy .

▪

People are their own worst enemies .

▪

Players can be real snobs about names, too, so they are their own worst enemies .

▪

To what extent would she say she was her own worst enemy ?

▪

You could say that Gilly is her own worst enemy .

better/harder/worse etc still

▪

And 245 specialty stock funds that focus on particular industries did better still , averaging a 6. 5 percent gain.

▪

But perhaps the early evening was better still ?

▪

He didn't talk because he was afraid of losing the pole or, worse still , falling in.

▪

I started to hunt for a cheap restaurant or, better still , a snack shop.

▪

I thought that it would soon pass, and it did - for you to work harder still .

▪

Or better still , make a real talent show instead.

▪

Or better still , there was the village school practically next door!

▪

With hindsight, it would have better still to lock in a few more gains.

bring out the best/worst in sb

▪

Ingram always seems to bring out the best in his players.

▪

And Vince was obviously a great coach; he brought out the best in his team and whoever played him.

▪

But the Washington Wizards have a way of bringing out the best in their opponents.

▪

But, says Markert, there is something about one-way communication that can also bring out the worst in people.

▪

Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Bob Dole.

▪

It brings out the best in us.

▪

Maybe something like they tend to bring out the best in us.

▪

So, to bring out the best in your cooking make sure you use the purest soy sauce, Kikkoman Soy Sauce.

▪

Yet it was not an unsuccessful attempt to bring out the best in his audience.

come off best/better/worst etc

▪

Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst.

▪

Bullock comes off best because her complaining seems so valid.

▪

His foster-child comes off best, but in addition each of two nurses receives a tenth of his estate.

▪

It may seem, so far, that in terms of clearly defined benefits, the client comes off best out of the deal.

▪

Prior to that Meath had come off best when they accounted for Down in the 1990 league decider.

▪

The lightning, it seemed to Lydia, had undoubtedly come off best in that encounter.

▪

The problem is that history sometimes comes off better.

couldn't be better/worse/more pleased etc

do sb a good/bad turn

▪

She was only trying to do James a good turn .

do your/his/her/their worst

▪

Let her do her worst to reach him.

▪

Sometimes they successfully slowed or blocked the path of the conquistadores when these exploiters were out to do their worst .

every bit as important/bad/good etc

▪

Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.

▪

Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.

▪

It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.

▪

It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.

▪

The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!

▪

The traffic was every bit as bad as had been predicted.

▪

Things every bit as bad happen there, too.

▪

To her horror it was every bit as bad as she'd feared, and possibly even a tiny bit worse.

expect/fear the worst

▪

Distillery boss Billy Hamilton fears the worst after Heath was assisted off in the second-half with a torn calf muscle.

▪

From what he has heard he fears the worst about the likelihood of a quick turnaround on the field.

▪

I knew I was being irrational but I began to fear the worst .

▪

Leading the mob assault into the fisherman's cabin, the pastor expects the worst .

▪

Only then did we begin to fear the worst .

▪

Quite frankly we expected the worst .

fall on hard/bad times

▪

At 21 she is set for stardom, but she still finds time for people who have fallen on hard times.

▪

Even by political standards, Gingrich very quickly fell on hard times.

▪

I assumed that if a person fell on hard times some one else in the wider family would rescue them.

▪

Interestingly, though, the bottom 10 includes many household names fallen on hard times.

▪

The Cambridge University Automobile Club had clearly fallen on hard times, too.

▪

The model cities program fell on hard times soon after it began.

▪

With the outbreak of war, the shop fell on harder times.

▪

Worse, because of Jack the father has fallen on hard times and must meet all kinds of debts.

fear the worst

▪

Fearing the worst, police have called in reinforcements to help control the crowds.

▪

After I hadn't heard from him for several hours, I began to fear the worst.

▪

Rescuers feared the worst for the men trapped in the mine.

▪

I knew I was being irrational but I began to fear the worst.

▪

Mind you, I feared the worst for this year's crop of pantomimes.

▪

Only then did we begin to fear the worst.

▪

Rumours about impending changes will occur anyway, and staff not fully informed are likely to fear the worst.

▪

Then they called police and stayed up all night -- fearing the worst.

for better or (for) worse

▪

The reality is that, for better or worse, the world of publishing has changed.

▪

All five, for better or worse, have received recent votes of confidence from their respective general managers or team presidents.

▪

And for better or worse, the new interactivity brings enormous political leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost.

▪

And the consequences could be even more startling, for better or for worse.

▪

Decisions made in any of these places can hit our pocketbooks and our peace of mind, for better or for worse.

▪

He has toted the ball and the expectations, for better or worse.

▪

He was her husband ... for better or worse, he was her husband.

▪

Medical students in prolonged contact with junior doctors learn attitudes by example, for better or for worse.

▪

Today we know for better or for worse that cops, like doctors and priests, are merely human.

get off to a good/bad etc start

get/be given a bad press

get/have the worst of it

▪

I should not have exasperated him for I always have the worst of it.

good 'un/bad 'un/little 'un etc

good/bad/poor etc effort

▪

Batter Up Despite my best efforts , I could not stop eating the skinny fries that came with the combination.

▪

Dealing with these individual and family concerns will require the best efforts of mental health professionals.

▪

Football is a team game; offense and defense must work together to produce the best effort .

▪

However, objects decay despite our best efforts to conserve them.

▪

In spite of Holford-Walker's best efforts , the moran evaded his supervision.

▪

In spite of the rain's best efforts , I was pleased that I had been able to observe and film interesting mink behaviour.

▪

Or maybe they disapproved of or were indifferent to your best efforts .

▪

Peter Pike and Davern Lambert had good efforts before Musgrove completed his hat-trick with a good shot on the turn.

good/bad/poor etc seller

▪

Alcohol and western cigarettes are best sellers .

▪

Convinced it had a best seller on its hands, Random House came up with the unorthodox idea of relaunching the book.

▪

Drosnin is an investigative newspaper reporter who once wrote a best seller about Howard Hughes.

▪

His album Stars was last year's best seller and spawned a string of hit singles.

▪

It was the earliest best seller .

▪

Q.. What makes a book a best seller ?

▪

The man who made a best seller out of a defamatory rant now wants to make a best seller out of repentance.

▪

Voice over Mrs De Winter is already tipped as being one of the best sellers this year.

good/bad/poor etc speller

▪

Only good spellers can spell easily orally.

▪

They give the good speller a chance to use his skill, but may depress a poor speller.

good/best/bad practice

▪

An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.

▪

Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.

▪

It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.

▪

Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .

▪

The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.

▪

There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.

▪

These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .

▪

This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.

have a high/low/good/bad etc opinion of sb/sth

▪

All I can say to that is that I have a higher opinion of your judgement than he has.

▪

He did not, in any case, have a high opinion of Santayana - an animus which Santayana reciprocated towards Eliot.

▪

Politicians generally have a low opinion of the press, just as the press generally has a low opinion of lawmakers.

▪

She does not seem to have a high opinion of married life.

he's/she's bad news

if the worst comes to the worst

in a good/an ill/a bad humour

in a new/different/bad etc light

▪

But, like the National Health Service, education could be seen in a different light .

▪

He found there a country whose characteristics cast the philosophy of birth control in a new light .

▪

I've seen him at a distance, I've seen him in bad light .

▪

I think we both saw young Mr Venn in new lights , and they were neither favorable nor unfavorable, just new.

▪

It makes you think about those sullen high schoolers in a different light , see their lives along a time line.

▪

So let us fantasise, and see industry and agriculture in a new light .

▪

They literally saw the whole world in a new light .

▪

They perch too far away in bad light .

in good nick/in bad nick etc

in good/bad/poor etc shape

▪

But if I was in better shape , I'd be sitting up there.

▪

He could still be in good shape .

▪

He said Texpool is in good shape now.

▪

If only he could tell them he was all right, in good shape , considering ....

▪

This saw the band in good shape , retaining their traditions of twisted passions and bleak emotional narratives.

▪

This year, however, Dole appears in good shape in both locations.

▪

Uptown was still in bad shape .

▪

We found he was in good shape , but had no food in his intestines.

just as good/bad/big etc

▪

And you men and half of Terminus as well are just as bad.

▪

At home it was just as bad.

▪

I would say the top teams are just as good, but the lesser teams have caught up a little bit.

▪

It was just as good a place as any to get away from Julius for a while.

▪

Now Allan Ahlberg has written two more stories about the same skeletons, and they're just as good.

▪

Or something else, just as bad, could happen.

▪

People accuse the whites of being prejudiced, but blacks can be just as bad.

▪

Virginia says sending them to a sister training program it has established at nearby Mary Baldwin College is just as good.

make a good/bad fist of sth

none the worse/better etc (for sth)

▪

Although the animal glowed rosy-pink, it appeared none the worse for its ordeal.

▪

I recovered, my mouth none the worse for it, after all.

▪

Peter's little pet was clearly none the worse for its time in the underworld.

not half bad

▪

The pizza here isn't half bad.

not so big/good/bad etc

▪

But so happen, one little boy not so good.

▪

But it's not so bad down here.

▪

Compared to how I feel, how I look is not so bad.

▪

It is not so good at knowing how to do it.

▪

My tongue not so good anyway.

▪

She began to think that perhaps village life was not so bad.

▪

Some years it was bad, other years not so bad.

▪

When he was hot, he was hot, but for me the whole thing was not so good.

plumb the depths (of despair/misery/bad taste etc)

sb's bark is worse than their bite

sb's worst fears were realized

▪

My worst fears were realized when I saw the test questions.

▪

His worst fears were realized and he was arrested.

show sb in a good/bad etc light

take a turn for the worse

▪

Stock prices have taken a turn for the worse .

the best of a bad lot/bunch

the biggest/worst etc (sth) yet

▪

And the worst was yet to come.

▪

Her third night here and it had been the worst one yet .

▪

No, the worst ... Yet is she listening now?

▪

That was the worst task yet , as Psyche saw when she approached the waterfall.

▪

The decision opens the biggest policy rift yet between Holyrood and Westminster.

▪

The two have returned from a disastrous holiday in Greecebut the worst is yet to come.

the worst

▪

Most of the girls were pretty mean, but Sabrina was the worst .

the worst of sth

▪

Against the far wall, shielded from the worst of the rain, were five bodies neatly laid out.

▪

And the worst of the caregivers were a disaster.

▪

And then there's you. ` ` Me? ` ` You're the worst of the lot.

▪

At this moment in history, however, the White House personifies the worst of political greed and excess.

▪

Black people, for example, need not imitate the worst of white competitive consumers.

▪

By the middle of the next afternoon, the worst of the headache was gone.

▪

On the eve of the council the worst of horrors was revealed.

▪

Would she ring the warning bell that cushioned the little fellow from the worst of it?

think the best/worst of sb

▪

Ellie's the type of person that always thinks the best of people.

▪

He thought the worst of Mitch and clearly thought that left to herself she would ring London at once.

▪

I was so ready to think the worst of him, she wailed inwardly.

▪

My immediate reaction, whether it be a man or a woman, is to think the worst of them.

▪

The prospect of Guy leaving, thinking the worst of her, was unbearable.

▪

Why should you think the worst of me?

▪

You always think the worst of me.

turn up like a bad penny

with (a) good/bad grace

▪

Admit temporary defeat with good grace , retreat, reconsider and wait.

▪

But he tucked his manuscript away with a good grace .

▪

He threw himself with good grace into everything, even this.

▪

Life is very crude, and bonnie Princes Street a dream, but we soldier on with a good grace .

▪

Mr Macmillan was, according to colleagues, prepared to give way with good grace when he could not carry the Cabinet.

▪

Sport only thrives if both parties play by the rules, and accept the results with good grace .

▪

They accept his habitual interruptions with good grace .

▪

This must have been irksome for them, but Mrs Webster accepted it as her war work with good grace .

worse luck

▪

Bad luck for Venus, worse luck for the 12,000 fans, but hey, what can you do?

▪

I have to go to secretarial school, worse luck .

▪

Nearly all gone now, worse luck , and the guv'nor's arrived to read the riot act.

▪

You're a bad agent and you're worse luck .

▪

You go up there with the wrong attitude and come out with worse luck than you had before.

worst of all

▪

Mike's so boring, and worst of all he never stops talking.

▪

And worst of all, the Hare got rid Of far more than the Tortoise did.

▪

And worst of all, their services are no longer in demand.

▪

And, worst of all, you don't remember who you are.

▪

But worst of all were the comparisons being made between Monty Clift and Jekyll and Hyde.

▪

Or, worst of all, exploding at work?

▪

Perhaps worst of all, there are those stressful situations where one is accustomed to turn to tobacco for support.

▪

The twelfth labor was the worst of all.

▪

To abuse hospitality was the most horrid thing; worst of all.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪

bad apples

▪

Bad cat! Get off the table!

▪

bad housing conditions

▪

bad management

▪

a book full of bad language

▪

Critics blame the students' poor test performances on bad teaching.

▪

Did you have a bad day at work?

▪

Frank had a bad flu before Christmas.

▪

He's the worst driver I've ever seen.

▪

He had a bad influence on his younger brother.

▪

He had an especially bad time at boarding school.

▪

He plays one of the bad guys in the movie.

▪

I'm afraid I have some bad news.

▪

I'm very bad at remembering people's names.

▪

I was always really bad at French!

▪

If the weather's bad , we could go to the museum instead.

▪

In most movies, the bad guy gets caught in the end.

▪

In the 1980s, their cars had a bad reputation for reliability.

▪

Is there any crime worse than murdering a child?

▪

It's the worst book she's ever written.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪

A sweetheart, this little lady, not bad legs either.

▪

But the fuel crisis was not all bad news for riders.

▪

But when the cable came it was bad news.

▪

But you were bad with your eyes all the same, I remember you were in a darkened room for days.

▪

The first, last year, was canceled because of bad weather.

▪

The sharpest rise in shop sales for almost 12 years encouraged hopes that the worst of the recession is over.

▪

This was often a direct consequence of bad diet: too much matooke and nothing else.

II. noun

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

good/bad timekeeper

a bad/difficult/sticky/rough patch

▪

Even when they knew he was going through a bad patch they would continue to deliver dangerous back-passes to him.

▪

Every team goes through a bad patch .

▪

Evode has gone through a sticky patch .

▪

Having hit a bad patch , financially, I decided I must try for some paid work with my knitting machine.

▪

Ruefully, she recalled her pleasure at the way the book, after a difficult patch , had begun to develop.

▪

Sometimes I am a real power pack of efficiency; then I hit a bad patch .

▪

Talk about hitting a bad patch .

▪

The Royal Family is certainly going through a rough patch .

a bad/poor sport

▪

He told everyone Norm was a hothead, a poor sport , a disgrace as a Catholic, and a lousy catcher.

▪

It is not good for a player to be considered a poor sport .

a bum/bad rap

▪

She said social programs of the 1960s have gotten a bad rap in the 1990s.

▪

They got me on a bum rap .

▪

Yalta's bad name was in some ways a bum rap .

a fate worse than death

▪

I knew that Grandma's visit would be a fate worse than death.

▪

After all, she didn't know him, and a fate worse than death might just be awaiting her.

▪

It certainly wasn't because he was trying to save her from a Fate Worse than Death.

▪

There are various Pelagias who are known as penitent harlots or virgin martyrs who died to escape a fate worse than death.

▪

We've even growled at the horse, and threatened it with a fate worse than death, but to no avail!

a good/bad etc shot

▪

But Nogai's a good shot .

▪

Ed Kelley was a good shot .

▪

He made a good shot from there and holed a three-foot putt for a quadruple-bogey eight.

▪

If I hit a bad shot , I try to minimize its effect.

▪

Klingler made it clear at the end of 1996 that he wanted a better shot at moving up the depth chart.

▪

That much was the least expected of a hunter who had made a bad shot .

▪

They have a better shot at claiming the governorship.

▪

Tom played a bad shot out of the bunker, and he does no more than charge straight at this press guy.

a good/bad judge of sth

▪

Sarah's not a very good judge of character.

▪

And for all his imagination, he was not a good judge of character on limited acquaintance.

▪

But Anya's a better judge of character than she used to be, back in the old homeland.

▪

He's also a good judge of a quick run.

▪

He was a good judge of character, hated hypocrisy, and had no time for conceit.

▪

I didn't protest as it was his fence officially, and he was supposed to be a good judge of torque.

▪

It was not that he was too sure of himself simply that he was a good judge of the possible.

▪

Munnings, he told reporters, was a better judge of horses than paintings.

at (the) worst

▪

Many drivers feel their job is unpleasant at best, and dangerous at worst .

▪

Developing these required equations is at best difficult and at worst nearly impossible.

▪

Him, with him: the worst man in the worst place at the worst time.

▪

If we drop a tin can probably nothing will happen; at the worst we may make a small dent.

▪

In most cases doing a course of any kind will, at worst , just be a small waste of time.

▪

Naturally, it happened at the worst possible time.

▪

Patient and neutral stares at worst .

▪

The first assumption of the Census Bureau, therefore, must be viewed as fatuous at worst , naive at best.

▪

Up until then I had sometimes seen writing as at best a compulsion and at worst a sickness.

at your best/worst/most effective etc

bad faith

▪

And some councils are acting in bad faith .

▪

Guinness was accused of bad faith , in particular for failing to adhere to promises made in the official offer documents.

▪

I can't help feeling, therefore, that your critical position relies on a heavy dose of bad faith .

▪

I think a leap of bad faith was made.

▪

In Anisminic, Lord Reid gave the following examples: It may have given its decision in bad faith .

▪

In the present case the plaintiff did not allege, nor did the judge find, any bad faith by the defendants.

▪

School officials can lose this qualified privilege if they act in bad faith or without regard for whether the statements are true.

▪

What intrigues me about programmes like You've Been Framed is their bad faith .

bad form

▪

He asked Billy what he thought the worst form of execution was.

▪

Self-interest was the worst sin and slaveholding was the worst form of self-interest.

▪

Tainting the courts with politics is very bad form , but apparently irresistible.

▪

The most terrible bad form . 5.

▪

They need an exorcist to figure out what in the devil possessed them to return to their worst form from last season.

▪

We all now agree with Churchill's adage: democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.

▪

Wilful impediment of the sacred moves was not only ill-mannered, but the worst form of blasphemy.

bad hair day

▪

I felt miserable and realised the hair of my dreams had turned into the worst bad hair day you could imagine.

▪

Your basic bad hair day at the photo lab.

bad luck

▪

Bad luck , Paul. I'm sure you'll pass next time.

▪

It was just bad luck that she happened to get sick that day.

▪

Oh what a shame. Bad luck Chris.

▪

She seems to have nothing but bad luck when it comes to men.

▪

Talk about bad luck ! Last night Ray's car was broken into for the second time this month.

▪

All that stood in the way of victory was a touch of bad luck .

▪

Despite their current run of bad luck , the Giants are drawing record crowds at Scottsdale Stadium.

▪

Is it because such a meeting would bring bad luck or is there another reason?

▪

It is your bad luck if the warren you choose to ferret is one of these.

▪

Only bad luck and poor finishing prevented Hibs from grabbing an equaliser.

▪

They believe it is bad luck .

bad/difficult/hard etc enough

▪

Even a Patel, probably a Bhatt if I looked hard enough .

▪

It's bad enough trying to fly with unequal line lengths; having an asymmetric kite can be most frustrating!

▪

She identified the problem not as trying too hard to live up to a domestic ideal but as not trying hard enough .

▪

Since the cold war ended in 1988, they have worked hard enough to produce some kind of an economic miracle.

▪

That was going to be difficult enough anyway.

▪

The ties with the past difficult enough to sever already.

▪

This would be bad enough if California prisons were full of nothing but Charles Mansons.

bad/good sailor

▪

Although he was a good sailor , Columbus was a bad governor.

▪

As a yacht delivery skipper he had to be a damn good sailor .

▪

Even the best sailors can be swept into them, apart from which they can cause all sorts of damage to your equipment.

▪

How he got there no-one knows, but he was a very good sailor and an even better artist.

▪

I have never been a good sailor , and kept to my bunk for the first part of the journey.

▪

Ironically I do not make a very good sailor .

▪

Turns out all of us are pretty good sailors .

bad/hard/tough luck

▪

Can't have that, can we, not on top of all your other hard luck .

▪

He felt that this little piece of bad luck might affect his whole day.

▪

I kept looking into the mirror and hating my bad luck , but there they were.

▪

There were lots of near misses: some great saves from both keepers, and sheer bad luck .

▪

Unfortunately, the gents had bad luck .

▪

You go up there with the wrong attitude and come out with worse luck than you had before.

bad/ill feeling

▪

There have been bad feelings between area residents and police.

▪

Even though Amelia participated so little in school activities, she harbored no ill feelings toward Hyde Park.

▪

I figure there had to be some bad feeling .

▪

I got a very bad feeling as we pitched into the bathroom and-fumbled for the mouthwash.

▪

I have bad feelings for the smugglers, though.

▪

It's got bad feelings for me, this room.

▪

It was the start of bad feeling between the two.

▪

Jane Blasio harbors no ill feelings toward Hicks.

▪

There is no bad feeling between us.

be good/bad news for sb

▪

House prices are very low, which is good news for first-time buyers.

▪

Although the licensing agreement is good news for Apple, some wonder whether it is too little, too late.

▪

As Ohio goes, so goes the nation, and that may be good news for President Clinton.

▪

Gordon Brown also promised Labour would be good news for big employers ... like the nearby Rover plant in Cowley.

▪

Growing demand for such equipment is good news for the helicopter's distributors McAlpine based at Kidlington in Oxfordshire.

▪

Paperwork for files has been reduced and the threshold for compliance raised; both changes are good news for filers.

▪

The latest financial results are good news for a company that has struggled for years.

▪

This is good news for the hotelier who is prepared.

▪

This theft can only be bad news for the preservation movement.

be in a good/bad etc place

be in sb's good/bad books

be meant to be good/excellent/bad etc

be none the worse for sth

be your own worst enemy

▪

Many drivers are their own worst enemy -- driving too close, driving too fast, all the usual faults.

▪

My mother was her own worst enemy . She knew she was ill but she did nothing to help herself.

▪

In other words, we are our own worst enemy .

▪

My father was his own worst enemy .

▪

People are their own worst enemies .

▪

Players can be real snobs about names, too, so they are their own worst enemies .

▪

To what extent would she say she was her own worst enemy ?

▪

You could say that Gilly is her own worst enemy .

be your own worst enemy

▪

In other words, we are our own worst enemy.

▪

My father was his own worst enemy.

▪

People are their own worst enemies.

▪

Players can be real snobs about names, too, so they are their own worst enemies.

▪

To what extent would she say she was her own worst enemy?

▪

You could say that Gilly is her own worst enemy.

better/harder/worse etc still

▪

And 245 specialty stock funds that focus on particular industries did better still , averaging a 6. 5 percent gain.

▪

But perhaps the early evening was better still ?

▪

He didn't talk because he was afraid of losing the pole or, worse still , falling in.

▪

I started to hunt for a cheap restaurant or, better still , a snack shop.

▪

I thought that it would soon pass, and it did - for you to work harder still .

▪

Or better still , make a real talent show instead.

▪

Or better still , there was the village school practically next door!

▪

With hindsight, it would have better still to lock in a few more gains.

bring out the best/worst in sb

▪

Ingram always seems to bring out the best in his players.

▪

And Vince was obviously a great coach; he brought out the best in his team and whoever played him.

▪

But the Washington Wizards have a way of bringing out the best in their opponents.

▪

But, says Markert, there is something about one-way communication that can also bring out the worst in people.

▪

Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Bob Dole.

▪

It brings out the best in us.

▪

Maybe something like they tend to bring out the best in us.

▪

So, to bring out the best in your cooking make sure you use the purest soy sauce, Kikkoman Soy Sauce.

▪

Yet it was not an unsuccessful attempt to bring out the best in his audience.

come off best/better/worst etc

▪

Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst.

▪

Bullock comes off best because her complaining seems so valid.

▪

His foster-child comes off best, but in addition each of two nurses receives a tenth of his estate.

▪

It may seem, so far, that in terms of clearly defined benefits, the client comes off best out of the deal.

▪

Prior to that Meath had come off best when they accounted for Down in the 1990 league decider.

▪

The lightning, it seemed to Lydia, had undoubtedly come off best in that encounter.

▪

The problem is that history sometimes comes off better.

come off worst

▪

Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst .

couldn't be better/worse/more pleased etc

do sb a good/bad turn

▪

She was only trying to do James a good turn .

do your/his/her/their worst

▪

Let her do her worst to reach him.

▪

Sometimes they successfully slowed or blocked the path of the conquistadores when these exploiters were out to do their worst .

every bit as important/bad/good etc

▪

Barbara was every bit as good as she sounded.

▪

Here, the Fund runs many family projects that are less well-known but doing work that is every bit as important.

▪

It is for this reason that good balanced design is every bit as important as meticulous craftsmanship.

▪

It takes no more than five minutes and tastes every bit as good at the oven-baked variety.

▪

The explanation is every bit as important as the numbers!

▪

The traffic was every bit as bad as had been predicted.

▪

Things every bit as bad happen there, too.

▪

To her horror it was every bit as bad as she'd feared, and possibly even a tiny bit worse.

expect/fear the worst

▪

Distillery boss Billy Hamilton fears the worst after Heath was assisted off in the second-half with a torn calf muscle.

▪

From what he has heard he fears the worst about the likelihood of a quick turnaround on the field.

▪

I knew I was being irrational but I began to fear the worst .

▪

Leading the mob assault into the fisherman's cabin, the pastor expects the worst .

▪

Only then did we begin to fear the worst .

▪

Quite frankly we expected the worst .

fall on hard/bad times

▪

At 21 she is set for stardom, but she still finds time for people who have fallen on hard times.

▪

Even by political standards, Gingrich very quickly fell on hard times.

▪

I assumed that if a person fell on hard times some one else in the wider family would rescue them.

▪

Interestingly, though, the bottom 10 includes many household names fallen on hard times.

▪

The Cambridge University Automobile Club had clearly fallen on hard times, too.

▪

The model cities program fell on hard times soon after it began.

▪

With the outbreak of war, the shop fell on harder times.

▪

Worse, because of Jack the father has fallen on hard times and must meet all kinds of debts.

fear the worst

▪

Fearing the worst, police have called in reinforcements to help control the crowds.

▪

After I hadn't heard from him for several hours, I began to fear the worst.

▪

Rescuers feared the worst for the men trapped in the mine.

▪

I knew I was being irrational but I began to fear the worst.

▪

Mind you, I feared the worst for this year's crop of pantomimes.

▪

Only then did we begin to fear the worst.

▪

Rumours about impending changes will occur anyway, and staff not fully informed are likely to fear the worst.

▪

Then they called police and stayed up all night -- fearing the worst.

for better or (for) worse

▪

The reality is that, for better or worse, the world of publishing has changed.

▪

All five, for better or worse, have received recent votes of confidence from their respective general managers or team presidents.

▪

And for better or worse, the new interactivity brings enormous political leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost.

▪

And the consequences could be even more startling, for better or for worse.

▪

Decisions made in any of these places can hit our pocketbooks and our peace of mind, for better or for worse.

▪

He has toted the ball and the expectations, for better or worse.

▪

He was her husband ... for better or worse, he was her husband.

▪

Medical students in prolonged contact with junior doctors learn attitudes by example, for better or for worse.

▪

Today we know for better or for worse that cops, like doctors and priests, are merely human.

get off to a good/bad etc start

get/be given a bad press

get/have the worst of it

▪

I should not have exasperated him for I always have the worst of it.

go from bad to worse

▪

As 1931 went from bad to worse the possibility of another marriage began to seem her best hope of salvation.

▪

It went from bad to worse as the heavens opened and turned the circuit into one huge puddle.

▪

Matters continued to go from bad to worse .

▪

Matters went from bad to worse .

▪

On Ithaca, the island where his home was, things had gone from bad to worse .

▪

That they are going from bad to worse .

good 'un/bad 'un/little 'un etc

good/bad/poor etc effort

▪

Batter Up Despite my best efforts , I could not stop eating the skinny fries that came with the combination.

▪

Dealing with these individual and family concerns will require the best efforts of mental health professionals.

▪

Football is a team game; offense and defense must work together to produce the best effort .

▪

However, objects decay despite our best efforts to conserve them.

▪

In spite of Holford-Walker's best efforts , the moran evaded his supervision.

▪

In spite of the rain's best efforts , I was pleased that I had been able to observe and film interesting mink behaviour.

▪

Or maybe they disapproved of or were indifferent to your best efforts .

▪

Peter Pike and Davern Lambert had good efforts before Musgrove completed his hat-trick with a good shot on the turn.

good/bad/poor etc seller

▪

Alcohol and western cigarettes are best sellers .

▪

Convinced it had a best seller on its hands, Random House came up with the unorthodox idea of relaunching the book.

▪

Drosnin is an investigative newspaper reporter who once wrote a best seller about Howard Hughes.

▪

His album Stars was last year's best seller and spawned a string of hit singles.

▪

It was the earliest best seller .

▪

Q.. What makes a book a best seller ?

▪

The man who made a best seller out of a defamatory rant now wants to make a best seller out of repentance.

▪

Voice over Mrs De Winter is already tipped as being one of the best sellers this year.

good/bad/poor etc speller

▪

Only good spellers can spell easily orally.

▪

They give the good speller a chance to use his skill, but may depress a poor speller.

good/best/bad practice

▪

An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.

▪

Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.

▪

It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.

▪

Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .

▪

The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.

▪

There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.

▪

These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .

▪

This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.

have a high/low/good/bad etc opinion of sb/sth

▪

All I can say to that is that I have a higher opinion of your judgement than he has.

▪

He did not, in any case, have a high opinion of Santayana - an animus which Santayana reciprocated towards Eliot.

▪

Politicians generally have a low opinion of the press, just as the press generally has a low opinion of lawmakers.

▪

She does not seem to have a high opinion of married life.

he's/she's bad news

if the worst comes to the worst

in a good/an ill/a bad humour

in a new/different/bad etc light

▪

But, like the National Health Service, education could be seen in a different light .

▪

He found there a country whose characteristics cast the philosophy of birth control in a new light .

▪

I've seen him at a distance, I've seen him in bad light .

▪

I think we both saw young Mr Venn in new lights , and they were neither favorable nor unfavorable, just new.

▪

It makes you think about those sullen high schoolers in a different light , see their lives along a time line.

▪

So let us fantasise, and see industry and agriculture in a new light .

▪

They literally saw the whole world in a new light .

▪

They perch too far away in bad light .

in good nick/in bad nick etc

in good/bad/poor etc shape

▪

But if I was in better shape , I'd be sitting up there.

▪

He could still be in good shape .

▪

He said Texpool is in good shape now.

▪

If only he could tell them he was all right, in good shape , considering ....

▪

This saw the band in good shape , retaining their traditions of twisted passions and bleak emotional narratives.

▪

This year, however, Dole appears in good shape in both locations.

▪

Uptown was still in bad shape .

▪

We found he was in good shape , but had no food in his intestines.

just as good/bad/big etc

▪

And you men and half of Terminus as well are just as bad.

▪

At home it was just as bad.

▪

I would say the top teams are just as good, but the lesser teams have caught up a little bit.

▪

It was just as good a place as any to get away from Julius for a while.

▪

Now Allan Ahlberg has written two more stories about the same skeletons, and they're just as good.

▪

Or something else, just as bad, could happen.

▪

People accuse the whites of being prejudiced, but blacks can be just as bad.

▪

Virginia says sending them to a sister training program it has established at nearby Mary Baldwin College is just as good.

make a good/bad fist of sth

none the worse/better etc (for sth)

▪

Although the animal glowed rosy-pink, it appeared none the worse for its ordeal.

▪

I recovered, my mouth none the worse for it, after all.

▪

Peter's little pet was clearly none the worse for its time in the underworld.

not half bad

▪

The pizza here isn't half bad.

not so big/good/bad etc

▪

But so happen, one little boy not so good.

▪

But it's not so bad down here.

▪

Compared to how I feel, how I look is not so bad.

▪

It is not so good at knowing how to do it.

▪

My tongue not so good anyway.

▪

She began to think that perhaps village life was not so bad.

▪

Some years it was bad, other years not so bad.

▪

When he was hot, he was hot, but for me the whole thing was not so good.

plumb the depths (of despair/misery/bad taste etc)

sb could do worse than do sth

▪

A woman could do worse than be a nurse.

▪

He could do worse than spend his evening keeping an eye on her.

▪

In groping for useful precedents, one could do worse than heed the tale of a man named Sherwood Rowland.

▪

The West could do worse than to base its policy towards the Middle East on that aspiration.

▪

You could do worse than take a leaf out of the health economists' book.

sb's bark is worse than their bite

sb's worst fears were realized

▪

My worst fears were realized when I saw the test questions.

▪

His worst fears were realized and he was arrested.

show sb in a good/bad etc light

take a turn for the worse

▪

Stock prices have taken a turn for the worse .

the best of a bad lot/bunch

the biggest/worst etc (sth) yet

▪

And the worst was yet to come.

▪

Her third night here and it had been the worst one yet .

▪

No, the worst ... Yet is she listening now?

▪

That was the worst task yet , as Psyche saw when she approached the waterfall.

▪

The decision opens the biggest policy rift yet between Holyrood and Westminster.

▪

The two have returned from a disastrous holiday in Greecebut the worst is yet to come.

the good old days/the bad old days

the worse for wear

▪

Architectural details there were few and those were the worse for wear.

▪

But I can see he's the worse for wear, the weathering the worker wreaks on himself.

▪

But I digress ... We are all somewhat the worse for wear after a long night in the hotel bar.

▪

Here I was, returning from a presidential mission, and plainly the worse for wear.

▪

It was a long evening, and he arrived home at two in the morning, much the worse for wear.

▪

John McGuire was slightly the worse for wear after his night out with his wife.

▪

They were a bit the worse for wear; the flat was not clean and was damp.

the worst

▪

Most of the girls were pretty mean, but Sabrina was the worst .

the worst of sth

▪

Against the far wall, shielded from the worst of the rain, were five bodies neatly laid out.

▪

And the worst of the caregivers were a disaster.

▪

And then there's you. ` ` Me? ` ` You're the worst of the lot.

▪

At this moment in history, however, the White House personifies the worst of political greed and excess.

▪

Black people, for example, need not imitate the worst of white competitive consumers.

▪

By the middle of the next afternoon, the worst of the headache was gone.

▪

On the eve of the council the worst of horrors was revealed.

▪

Would she ring the warning bell that cushioned the little fellow from the worst of it?

think the best/worst of sb

▪

Ellie's the type of person that always thinks the best of people.

▪

He thought the worst of Mitch and clearly thought that left to herself she would ring London at once.

▪

I was so ready to think the worst of him, she wailed inwardly.

▪

My immediate reaction, whether it be a man or a woman, is to think the worst of them.

▪

The prospect of Guy leaving, thinking the worst of her, was unbearable.

▪

Why should you think the worst of me?

▪

You always think the worst of me.

turn up like a bad penny

well-mannered/bad-mannered etc

with (a) good/bad grace

▪

Admit temporary defeat with good grace , retreat, reconsider and wait.

▪

But he tucked his manuscript away with a good grace .

▪

He threw himself with good grace into everything, even this.

▪

Life is very crude, and bonnie Princes Street a dream, but we soldier on with a good grace .

▪

Mr Macmillan was, according to colleagues, prepared to give way with good grace when he could not carry the Cabinet.

▪

Sport only thrives if both parties play by the rules, and accept the results with good grace .

▪

They accept his habitual interruptions with good grace .

▪

This must have been irksome for them, but Mrs Webster accepted it as her war work with good grace .

worse luck

▪

Bad luck for Venus, worse luck for the 12,000 fans, but hey, what can you do?

▪

I have to go to secretarial school, worse luck .

▪

Nearly all gone now, worse luck , and the guv'nor's arrived to read the riot act.

▪

You're a bad agent and you're worse luck .

▪

You go up there with the wrong attitude and come out with worse luck than you had before.

worse luck

▪

Bad luck for Venus, worse luck for the 12,000 fans, but hey, what can you do?

▪

I have to go to secretarial school, worse luck.

▪

Nearly all gone now, worse luck, and the guv'nor's arrived to read the riot act.

▪

You're a bad agent and you're worse luck.

▪

You go up there with the wrong attitude and come out with worse luck than you had before.

worst of all

▪

Mike's so boring, and worst of all he never stops talking.

▪

And worst of all, the Hare got rid Of far more than the Tortoise did.

▪

And worst of all, their services are no longer in demand.

▪

And, worst of all, you don't remember who you are.

▪

But worst of all were the comparisons being made between Monty Clift and Jekyll and Hyde.

▪

Or, worst of all, exploding at work?

▪

Perhaps worst of all, there are those stressful situations where one is accustomed to turn to tobacco for support.

▪

The twelfth labor was the worst of all.

▪

To abuse hospitality was the most horrid thing; worst of all.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪

More of the bad of Washington sticks to you than the good.

III. adverb

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪

He needed a drink pretty bad .

▪

The front of the shop had been blown away, and the roof was badly damaged.

▪

Two of the passengers were killed, and the driver was badly injured.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪

How bad do you want it?

▪

Like I hate it and I do bad at it.