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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

bad faith en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

* (philosophy): a semantic loan from French mauvaise foi, coined by existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) The misrepresentation of one's own true motive.
    • bad-faith interpretation
    • A dormant and defunded CPB could have become vulnerable to future political manipulation or misuse, threatening the independence of public media and the trust audiences place in it, and potentially subjecting staff and board members to legal exposure from bad-faith actors.” 2026 January 5, Michael Schneider, “Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Shut Down After 58 Years Due to Trump Eliminating Funding”, in Variety, archived from the original on 07 Jan 2026:
    • Near-synonyms: dishonesty, insincerity, bloody-mindedness
  2. (uncountable) An intent to deceive or mislead another to gain some advantage; dishonesty or fraud in a transaction (such as knowingly misrepresenting the quality of something that is being bought or sold).
  3. (uncountable) A malicious motive by a party in a lawsuit, which has an effect on the ability to maintain causes of action and obtain legal remedies.
  4. (uncountable) The existentialist concept of denying one's total freedom of will.

Antonyms

good faith

Relateds

mala fide · good faith · bona fide

Synonyms

Punic faith · bloody-mindedness · dishonesty · insincerity

Translations (22)

pl zła wiara (malicious motive by a party in a lawsuit) · fi vilpillinen mieli (malicious motive by a party in a lawsuit) · pt má-fé (intent to deceive or mislead) · de böser Glaube (intent to deceive or mislead) · vi ngụy tín (existentialist concept of denying one's total freedom of will) · de Bösgläubigkeit (intent to deceive or mislead) · fr mauvaise foi (existentialist concept of denying one's total freedom of will) · cy annidwylledd (intent to deceive or mislead) · ms niat jahat (malicious motive by a party in a lawsuit) · de böse Absicht (intent to deceive or mislead) · gv drogh aigney (intent to deceive or mislead) · nl kwade trouw (intent to deceive or mislead) · fr mauvaise foi (intent to deceive or mislead) · sga écubus (intent to deceive or mislead) · vi ác ý (intent to deceive or mislead) · pl zła wiara (intent to deceive or mislead) · ga feall (intent to deceive or mislead) · fi vilpillinen mieli (intent to deceive or mislead) · la mala fides (malicious motive by a party in a lawsuit) · fi huono usko (existentialist concept of denying one's total freedom of will) · pl zła wiara (existentialist concept of denying one's total freedom of will) · fr mauvaise foi (malicious motive by a party in a lawsuit)