badly

views updated May 17 2018

bad·ly / ˈbadlē/ • adv. (worse / wərs/ , worst / wərst/ ) 1. in an unsatisfactory, inadequate, or unsuccessful way: a badly managed company the war was going badly. ∎  in an unfavorable way: try not to think badly of me. ∎  in an unacceptable or unpleasant way: she realized she was behaving rather badly.2. to a great or serious degree; severely: the building was badly damaged by fire I wanted a baby so badly.• adj. inf. guilty or regretful: I felt badly about my unfriendliness of the previous evening.

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