BADLY

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does badly mean? 

• BADLY (adverb)
  The adverb BADLY has 10 senses:

1. to a severe or serious degree

2. ('ill' is often used as a combining form) in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner; not well

3. evilly or wickedly

4. in a disobedient or naughty way

5. with great intensity ('bad' is a nonstandard variant for 'badly')

6. very much; strongly

7. without skill or in a displeasing manner

8. in a disadvantageous way; to someone's disadvantage

9. unfavorably or with disapproval

10. with unusual distress or resentment or regret or emotional display

  Familiarity information: BADLY used as an adverb is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BADLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

To a severe or serious degree

Synonyms:

badly; gravely; seriously; severely

Context example:

was seriously ill

Sense 2

Meaning:

('ill' is often used as a combining form) in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner; not well

Synonyms:

badly; ill; poorly

Context example:

an ill-conceived plan

Domain usage:

combining form (a bound form used only in compounds)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Evilly or wickedly

Context example:

to steal is to act badly

Pertainym:

bad (characterized by wickedness or immorality)

Sense 4

Meaning:

In a disobedient or naughty way

Synonyms:

badly; mischievously; naughtily

Context example:

behaved naughtily when they had guests and was sent to his room

Sense 5

Meaning:

With great intensity ('bad' is a nonstandard variant for 'badly')

Synonyms:

bad; badly

Context example:

we need water bad

Pertainym:

bad (very intense)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Very much; strongly

Synonyms:

bad; badly

Context example:

he wants a bicycle so bad he can taste it

Sense 7

Meaning:

Without skill or in a displeasing manner

Context example:

I think he paints very badly

Antonym:

well (with skill or in a pleasing manner)

Sense 8

Meaning:

In a disadvantageous way; to someone's disadvantage

Synonyms:

badly; disadvantageously

Context example:

angry that the case was settled disadvantageously for them

Antonym:

well (in a manner affording benefit or advantage)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Unfavorably or with disapproval

Synonyms:

badly; ill

Context example:

thought badly of him for his lack of concern

Pertainym:

bad (having undesirable or negative qualities)

Sense 10

Meaning:

With unusual distress or resentment or regret or emotional display

Context example:

conducted himself very badly at the time of the earthquake

Antonym:

well (without unusual distress or resentment; with good humor)

 Context examples 

A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have finally lost a woman’s love, however badly he may have treated her.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was on the right scent, but I guess I did it badly.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Aunt Em, badly frightened, threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

You really have done remarkably badly.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Well,” said I, “I'll cut you some tobacco, but if I was you and thought myself so badly, I would go to my prayers like a Christian man.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

If you get very sick or badly hurt and need help right away, you should use emergency medical services.

(Emergency Medical Services, NIH)

The man walked into the trap and was captured last night after a struggle in which Constable Downing was badly bitten by the savage.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You may need it if you have been badly burned, have liver failure or a severe infection.

(Blood Transfusion and Donation, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

This does not kill the cnidarian partner but does leave it badly weakened and vulnerable to disease.

(Voracious fish defend coral reefs against warming, Wikinews)

“Bless me!” said the old woman, “how badly your stays are laced! Let me lace them up with one of my nice new laces.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)