⬇️ Lower quality 📉 Less well ⚠️ A bad result

worse

2.3

A more serious bad thing that can happen

noun
/wɜrs/

: lo peor

His illness took a turn for the worse, making the doctors very concerned.

Of course, for better and for worse, yes, we will adapt.

Examples

So who has been your worst guest and your best guest?
What is the best and worst TV makeup job you have seen?
And one has to ask what the worst probabilities are.
It just means that the worst decisions were all fear driven.
It is like our worst fear coming true.
Hesitation could cause your worst fears to come true.
This year's harvest was the worst since we began farming this land.
The worst part of the movie was when the main character lost everything.

Antonyms

better

1.5

The more suitable or useful choice

Idioms

worse for wear

8 6.8

Looking or feeling tired and in poor condition after use

worse than the disease

2 8.3

Causing more harm than the problem it is meant to fix

the cure is worse than the disease

Informal

7.1

An attempt to fix a problem that makes things worse than before

How Bad

disaster

∞ 1.0

crisis

∞ 3.1

worse

2.3

problem

∞ 1.2

nuisance

62 3.6

Surface Forms

worse singular

worses plural

Etymology

Worse as a noun means 'a more serious bad thing' and comes from the same old word as the adjective, so we use it when we talk about the more unpleasant or dangerous option, as in the phrase 'for better or for worse'.