Worst

//wɜːst// adj, adv, name, noun, verb

adj, adv, name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Something or someone that is the worst.

    "The humorist helps people to explore and confront their worsts"

  2. 2
    the weakest effort or poorest achievement one is capable of wordnet
  3. 3
    the greatest damage or wickedness of which one is capable wordnet
  4. 4
    the least favorable outcome wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To make worse. archaic, transitive
  2. 2
    defeat thoroughly wordnet
  3. 3
    To grow worse; to deteriorate. dated, intransitive

    "Anne haggard, Mary coarse, every face in the neighbourhood worsting."

  4. 4
    To outdo or defeat, especially in battle. rare

    "The […] Philistines were worsted by the captivated ark."

Adjective
  1. 1
    superlative form of bad: most bad; Most inferior; doing the least good.

    "I think putting oil on a burn is the worst thing you can do."

  2. 2
    superlative form of bad: most bad; Most unfavorable.

    "That's the worst news I've had all day."

  3. 3
    superlative form of bad: most bad; Most harmful or severe.

    "The worst storm we had last winter knocked down our power lines."

  4. 4
    superlative form of bad: most bad; Used with the definite article and an implied noun: something that is worst.

    "None of these photographs of me are good, but this one is definitely the worst."

Adjective
  1. 1
    (superlative of ‘bad’) most wanting in quality or value or condition wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    superlative form of badly: most badly; least well. form-of, superlative

    "My sore leg hurts worst when it's cold and rainy."

Adverb
  1. 1
    to the highest degree of inferiority or badness wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from German.

Synonyms

All synonyms
abominablearrantatrociousawfulbaddestbaddest

Example

More examples

"Let's consider the worst that could happen."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English worste, wurste, warste, werste, wirste, from Old English wierrest, from Proto-Germanic *wirsistaz, superlative form of *ubilaz (“bad, evil”); compare worse. Cognate with Old Saxon wirsista, wirrista (“worst”), Old High German wirst, wirsesto, wirsisto (“worst”), Danish værst (“worst”), Swedish värst (“worst”), Icelandic verstur (“worst”).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German Worst, a variant of Wurst (“sausage”).

Related phrases

Worst Koreaat the worstat worstbad comes to worstbe one's own worst enemydo one's worstdoctors make the worst patientsfear the worstget the worst of ithope for the best, prepare for the worstin the worst wayleast worst

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.