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bad egg

/bæd ɛg/
IPA guide

Other forms: bad eggs

Calling someone a bad egg is a mild, old-fashioned way to say he's a jerk. The school bully is a good example of a bad egg.

A bad egg is not a nice person — she's as unpleasant and disappointing as a literal bad, or spoiled, egg would be when you cracked it open. That's most likely where the figurative phrase came from, and it may have started as British public school slang. Other experts have found the earliest mentions of bad egg in American newspapers in the mid-1800's. There is also an English playground game called bad egg.

Definitions of bad egg
  1. noun
    (old-fashioned slang) a bad person
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    good egg
    (old-fashioned slang) a good person
    type of:
    bad person, malefactor
    a person who does harm to others
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘bad egg'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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