on bad terms
1
3.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
en malos términos
- She was upset because she had to leave her friends on bad terms after the disagreement.
- leave on bad terms
Examples
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After their argument, they were on bad terms and avoided each other at work.
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One knows who publishes where or who is on bad terms with whom; and this is all part of the context needed to understand certain rhetorical strategies, oblique references, rebuttals, and polemics that would otherwise not be understood or would seem absurd.
Academic text (2002) -
I know we left on bad terms.
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I was unhappy about being on bad terms with him.
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"But my wife and Keigo's wife were on bad terms."
Fiction book (1998) -
I know the fact that we ended things on bad terms in the past still upsets him, but I know that it's more than that...
Blog text (1) -
Fred, I don't want to leave on bad terms.
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So Ali and Abu Bakr were on bad terms until finally they reconciled.
Blog text (1) -
On bad terms…
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Pol said the veterinarian consulted for the second opinion worked briefly for him 20 years ago, and they parted on bad terms.
Blog text (32)
Synonyms
60
4.8
Not agreeing with someone or something
Antonyms
How Friendly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from 'on' (indicating a relational state) + 'bad' (negative) + 'terms' (the state/conditions of a relationship); together they transparently describe a poor relationship. This construction is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'estar en malos términos') and follows a standard English prepositional phrase pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely understand it.
Etymology
On bad terms may come from an older use of the word terms to mean the rules or conditions of an agreement. So, if two people were literally on 'bad terms' their agreement or relationship was poor and they did not get along, which is why the phrase now means 'not having a friendly relationship'.