The best way to pick a “good” (i.e., acceptable) synonym is to know what you’re trying to say. This will often lead you to a more descriptive alternative.
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Synonyms for “Bad”
We say something is “bad” to express a negative opinion. It is, therefore, the opposite of good in every sense. Here are several alternative terms:
Low quality or faulty
A bad diet can cause health issues.
deficient, inadequate, mediocre, poor
Of a very low quality
Bathing in a tub of scorpions was a bad idea.
awful, dreadful, terrible, unacceptable
Harmful or negative
Smoking is bad for you.
damaging, detrimental, injurious, unhealthy
Immoral or disagreeable
Bad behavior will be punished.
evil, reprehensible, unpleasant, wrong
Unpleasant or unwelcome
We saw the bad news on television.
abhorrent, disagreeable, troublesome, undesirable
There are other uses of “bad” not described here, such as describing an injured body part (e.g., a “bad back”) or rotten food (e.g., “bad meat”). As with “good,” this makes it important to check the definition of synonyms for “bad.”
“Good” and “Bad” in Academic Writing
It’s okay to use words like “good” and “bad” in academic writing, but they’re not usually enough by themselves. This is because they’re evaluative rather than descriptive. For example, if we were writing about management techniques, we might say, “Unpaid overtime is bad for staff morale.” That is an evaluation. But to demonstrate our understanding, we’d also need to explain why it’s bad and how we reached that conclusion.
The answer, then, is to remember that academic writing requires an explanation of our judgments. The same applies to these words in other forms of critical writing. Another option is to have your work proofread by the experts. As part of this service, we will highlight and suggest replacements for “weak” language like “good” and “bad” if it is misused. And this, in turn, will make sure that your writing makes more of an impact.