worst of both worlds
2
7.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
lo peor de ambos mundos
- Due to the conflicting demands of her job and family, she feels like she has the worst of both worlds.
- get the worst of both worlds
Examples
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Not colonialism as it was before WW2, where the colonialists at least wanted to make money and put in well-oiled puppet regimes to keep the whole exploitative engine running; this was the worst of both worlds: crippled economies and bad government both.
Blog text (28) -
Under Labour, we had the worst of both worlds, uncompetitive tax rates that weren't paid.
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It's the worst of both worlds.
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In other words, at least to me, it's the worst of both worlds.
Blog text (28) -
Instead, we get the worst of both worlds.
Blog text (15) -
Latin America found itself facing the worst of both worlds.
Academic text (2008) -
This tendency left community councils with the worst of both worlds.
Academic text (2001) -
Americans always get the worst of both worlds, oscillating in election cycles.
Blog text (30) -
The president ended up with the worst of both worlds, losing the support of the Israelis and the Arabs and achieving nothing.
Academic text (2012) -
If this happened, don't you think the US would face the worst of both worlds: it would get blamed for the massacre even as it came under immense pressure to cut ties with a now thoroughly delegitimized regime?
Blog text (2)
Antonyms
- Informal
17
3.4
A situation where you enjoy two different good things at the same time
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'worst' (the most negative parts) of 'both' (two) 'worlds' (situations/realms), so a learner who knows the constituent words can infer it refers to experiencing the negative aspects of two situations without their benefits. This construction and metaphorical use of 'world(s)' for contexts is common cross-linguistically and follows a transparent combinatory pattern that a B1 learner can grasp.
Etymology
Worst of both worlds paints a simple picture: imagine two different worlds, and you are stuck with the worst from both. So, it means a situation where you end up with only the 'bad parts' of two choices and not the 'good parts'.