Wiktionary

worse

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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    From Middle English worse, werse, from Old English wiersa, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Cognate with Dutch wers (“worse”).

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    worse

    1. comparative form of bad: more bad
      Your exam results are worse than before.
      The harder you try, the worse you do.

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    Adverb

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    worse

    1. 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.
    2. Less skillfully.
    3. More severely or seriously.
    4. (sentence adverb) Used to start a sentence describing something that is worse.
      Her leg is infected. Still worse, she's developing a fever.

    Translations

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    Noun

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    worse

    1. (obsolete) Loss; disadvantage; defeat[1]
    2. That which is worse; something less good.
      Do not think the worse of him for his enterprise.

    Verb

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    worse (third-person singular simple present worses, present participle worsing, simple past and past participle worsed)

    1. (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

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    1. ^ “worse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

    Anagrams

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    Afrikaans

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    Noun

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    worse

    1. plural of wors

    Chinese

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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    From English worse or worst.

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    worse

    1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) bad; terrible (usually used with intensifier 好)
      • 2012 January 20, 楊千樺, 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

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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      From Old English wiersa, from Proto-West Germanic *wirssō, variant of *wirsiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Doublet of werre (“worse”).

      Pronunciation

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      • IPA(key): /ˈwurs(ə)/, /ˈwɛrs(ə)/
      • (later Northern) IPA(key): /ˈwars/

      Adjective

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      worse

      1. comparative degree of yvel
      2. comparative degree of ille

      Descendants

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      • English: worse
        • → Cantonese: worse (Hong Kong)
      • Scots: warse

      References

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      Adverb

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      worse

      1. comparative degree of yvel (adverb)
      2. comparative degree of ille (adverb)

      Descendants

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      Noun

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      worse (uncountable)

      1. Something or someone which is more yvel or ille (i.e. worse).
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      Descendants

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