worse

Etymology

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

adj

1. comparative form of bad: more bad
   Your exam results are worse than before.
   The harder you try, the worse you do.
2. comparative form of ill: more ill
   She was very ill last week but this week she’s worse.

adv

1. comparative form of badly (adverb): more badly
   He drives worse than anyone I know.
   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. 2013-07-19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34
2. comparative form of ill: more ill.
   He's worse-mannered than she is.
3. Less skillfully.
4. More severely or seriously.
5. (sentence adverb) Used to start a sentence describing something that is worse.
   Her leg is infected. Still worse, she's developing a fever.

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make worse; to put at disadvantage; to discomfit.

noun

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