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👎 Poor quality 😈 Naughty behavior
badness

badness

1 2.5
The quality of being naughty or misbehaving
  • noun
  • /ˈbædnəs/
translation icon : maldad
  • The teacher expressed concern about the children's badness during the class, noting their mischievous behavior.
  • the bad girl
  • described badness

Examples

  • A second group of survey questions explored the adolescent girls' understanding of badness and their decisions to behave in bad ways.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Alternatively, badness is associated with going against social norms, harming others, or violating inner values.

    Academic text (2003)

  • But sometimes beautiful things grow bad by doing bad, and it takes some time for their badness to spoil their beauty.

    Blog text (17)

  • Moreover, their ideas about badness seemed to be the direct opposite of those regarding goodness.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Badness was also described as harming others.

    Academic text (2003)

  • For example, badness was defined as breaking rules or going against societal norms.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Similar to their responses regarding goodness, the adolescent girls' definitions of badness appeared to be split between external and internal standards and demands.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The present study examined adolescent girls' thoughts and feelings about the concepts of goodness and badness, as well as their choices to behave in these ways.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Moreover, in contrast to the altruism attributed to goodness, 37% of the adolescent girls in Group A and 21% of those in Group B described badness as harming others.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Thirty-three percent of the adolescent girls in Group A and 11% of the adolescent girls in Group B defined badness as going against one's conscience, morals, or beliefs.

    Academic text (2003)

Synonyms

naughtiness
vsbadness
2 3.2

Behaviour that breaks rules and teases others, often by children

is a broader term for misbehavior often used about children
devilry
vsbadness
1 8.8

Behaviour that harms people or tricks them, sometimes as a prank

is about mild misbehavior in children rather than malicious wrongdoing
mischievousness
vsbadness
1 4.6

Playful actions that cause small harmless trouble for fun

is a wider quality of misbehaving rather than only playful acts
devilishness
vsbadness
7.6

Playful or wicked behavior that shows mischief

is softer and child centered rather than cruel or evil

Antonyms

obedience
91 2.6

Willing to do what a person in charge asks

well behaved
1 1.2

A child or pet that acts politely and calmly

How Naughty

misconduct
  • Formal
131 4.6
badness
1 2.5
mischief
34 2.7

Surface Forms

badness singular
badnesses plural

Morphology

badness = bad (transparent) = bad + ness

The word is transparently formed by adding the suffix '-ness' to 'bad', indicating a state or quality.

Etymology

Badness comes from the simple word bad plus the ending -ness, and when we use it about children it means 'naughtiness' or mischievous behaviour. So in that sense badness describes being naughty or causing trouble, not deep evil.