Bad vs Drab - What's the difference?
bad | drab |
Not good; unfavorable; negative.
* , chapter=10
, title= Not suitable or fitting.
Seemingly non-appropriate, in manners, etc.
* , chapter=7
, title= Unhealthy.
Tricky; stressful; unpleasant.
Evil; wicked.
Faulty; not functional.
(of food) , rotten, overripe.
(of breath) , foul.
(informal) Bold and daring.
(of a, need or want) Severe, urgent.
Badly.
(slang) error, mistake
* '>citation
*
*
(countable, uncountable, economics) An item (or kind of item) of merchandise with negative value; an unwanted good.
* {{quote-book, title=International Economics: Global Markets and Competition
, first=Henry
, last=Thompson
, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=RQeYBbSlXLIC&lpg=PA97&dq=%22economic%20bad%22&pg=PA97v=onepage&q=%22economic%20bad%22&f=false
, page=97
, year=2011
, edition=3rd
, publisher=World Scientific
, passage=Imports are an economic good but exports an economic bad . Exports must be produced but are enjoyed by foreign consumers.
}}
* {{quote-book, title=Economics
, author=William J. Boyes, Michael Melvin
, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=LgaZaie5V1YC&lpg=PA4&dq=bads&pg=PA4v=onepage&q=bads&f=false
, page=4
, year=2011
, edition=9th
, publisher=Cengage Learning
, passage=An economic bad' is anything that you would pay to get rid of. It is not so hard to think of examples of ' bads : pollution, garbage, and disease fit the description.
}}
(rfm-sense) (slang) Fantastic.
(archaic) .
(British, dialect, transitive) To shell (a walnut).
* 1876 , The Gloucester Journal'', Oct. 7, 1876, reported in William John Thomas, Doran (John), Henry Frederick Turle, Joseph Knight, Vernon Horace Rendall, Florence Hayllar, ''Notes and Queries ,
Dull, uninteresting, particularly of colour.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=November 3
, author=David Ornstein
, title=Macc Tel-Aviv 1 - 2 Stoke
, work=BBC Sport
A fabric, usually of thick wool or cotton, having a drab colour.
The colour of this fabric; a dun, dull grey, or or dull brownish yellow.
A wooden box, used in saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.
(dated) A dirty or untidy woman; a slattern.
*
* 1956 , (John Creasey), Gideon's Week :
(dated) A promiscuous woman, a slut; a prostitute.
* 1957 , (Frank Swinnerton), The Woman from Sicily :
A box used in a saltworks for holding the salt when taken out of the boiling pans.
(obsolete) To consort with prostitutes.
*
*
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As a verb bad
is to simulate.As a noun drab is
beadle, catchpole.bad
English
(wikipedia bad)Etymology 1
From (etyl) bad, ).Adjective
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.}}
Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=“[…] if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery. […]”}}
- Lard is bad'''' for you. Smoking is '''bad''' for you, too. Grapes are '''bad for dogs but not for humans.
Usage notes
The comparative badder and superlative baddest are nonstandard.Synonyms
* (not good) unfavorable, negative * * (not suitable or fitting) * * wicked, evil, vile, vicious * (not functional) faulty * (of food) rotten * (of breath) malodorous, foul * badass * (of a need or want) severe, urgent, dire (to be assigned) * false * spurious * disgusting * wrong * corrupt * ill * base * abandoned * vicious * abominable * detestable * deficient * inferior * lousy * off * poor * punk * substandard * unacceptable * ungodly * unsatisfactory * wanting * wretched * See alsoAntonyms
* good * right * worthy * competent * benevolent * true * honest * just * sincere * beneficial * advantageous * profitable * virtuous * reputable * upright * propitious * choice * excellent * exceptional * first-class * first-rate * premium * prime * superior * adequate * sufficientSee also
* astray * base * bum * contemptible * defective * despicable * dirty * execrable * faulty * flawed * inadequate * insufficient * lacking * lesser * low-grade * mediocre * par * reprehensible * scurrilous * second-rate * under * unspeakable * useless * valueless * villainous * worthlessDerived terms
* bad actor * bad apple * bad beat * bad blood * bad boy * bad breath * bad check * bad debt * baddie * bad egg * bad ending * bad eye * bad fairy * bad faith * bad for you * bad guy * bad hair day * bad hat * bad iron * bad joke * bad language * bad light * bad lot * bad luck * bad man * bad-mannered * bad manners * bad medicine * bad money * bad-mouth * badness * bad news * bad off * bad penny * bad-tempered * Bad Thing * bad to the bone * go bad * not bad * too badAdverb
- I didn't do too bad in the last exam.
Noun
(-)- Sorry, my bad !
Etymology 2
Probably identical to bad , etymology 1, above, especially in the sense "bold, daring".Adjective
(badder)- You is (SIC) bad , man!
- Also Bek is "bad " at Madden.
Etymology 3
From (etyl) .Verb
(head)Etymology 4
Verb
(badd)page 346
- A curious specimen of Gloucestershire dialect c»me out in an assault case heard by the Gloucester court magistrates on Saturday. One of the witnesses, speaking of what a girl was doing at the time the assault took place, said she was ' badding' ' walnuts in a pigstye. The word is peculiarly provincial : to ' '''bad''' ' walnuts is to strip away the husk. The walnut, too, is often called » 'bannut,' and hence the old Gloucestershire phrase, ' Come an' ' bad the bannuts.'
Statistics
*drab
English
Etymology 1
(etyl), meaning "color of undyed cloth", from (etyl) ).Xavier Delamarre, ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental , s.v. "drappo" (Paris: Errance, 2001).Adjective
(drabber)citation, page= , passage=In a drab first half, Ryan Shotton's drive was deflected on to a post and Jon Walters twice went close.}}
Noun
(en noun)Quotations
* (English Citations of "drab")Synonyms
* (fabric) (l)Derived terms
* (l)Etymology 2
Origin uncertain; probably compare Irish drabog, Gaelic .Noun
(en noun)- Old provincial society had [...] its brilliant young professional dandies who ended by living up an entry with a drab and six children for their establishment [...].
- The doss house emptied during the day; from ten o'clock until five or six in the evening, there was no one there except Mulliver, a drab who did some of the cleaning for him, and occasional visitors.
- Ineffable sarcasm underlined the word 'bride', suggesting that Mrs Mudge must be a drab who had married for respectability.
- (Shakespeare)