Dictionary

break bad en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /bɹæɪ̯k bæːd/ (Australia)
• /bɹeɪk bæd/

Meanings

1. (colloquial, of an event or of one's fortunes) To go wrong; to go downhill.
   • "A woman came out from the East—Vermont, it was—and school-teaching was her line of business, only she hadn't been raised to it, and this was her first clatter at the game; but things had broke bad for her people, and ended in her pulling stakes and coming West all alone. 1908, Rex Beach, The barrier, page 212:
   • Half the bad men are only coltish cowpunchers gone wrong through rotten whiskey and luck breaking bad for them. 1913, William MacLeod Raine, Crooked trials and straight, page 134:
2. (Midwestern-US, Southern-US, colloquial, especially, of a person) To go bad; to turn toward immorality or crime.
   • Nah, come on, man! Some straight like you, giant stick up his ass, all of a sudden at age, what, sixty, he's just gonna break bad? 2008, “Pilot”, in Breaking Bad, spoken by Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul):
   • But somehow he broke bad when he was just a yearling boy, started running around at night with a bad crowd, drinking beer and wine, and fighting and getting in all kinds of trouble and wouldn't go to school. 2005, Will D. Campbell, The Glad River, →ISBN, page 18:
   • My nephew was breaking bad, getting deeper into the crack trade, […] 2012, John Grisham, The Racketeer, →ISBN:

Forms

Antonyms

turn over a new leaf

Synonyms

go astray · go bad

Translations (27)

es desvirtuarse (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · ru пусти́ться во все тя́жкие (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · fr mal tourner (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · pt chutar o balde (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · tr kötüye gitmek (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · bn মন্দে পরিণত হওয়া (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · pl schodzić na złą drogę (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · pl zejść na złą drogę (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · scn fàrisi pùnciri (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · nl van het rechte pad afwijken (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · cmn 變壞 /变坏 (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · scn straviàrisi (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · scn strammàrisi (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · ja 道を外す (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · ru испо́ртиться (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · ru сби́ться с пути́ (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · scn sfàrisi (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · tr iş çığırından çıkmak (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · sh zastraniti (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · es descarriarse (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · scn pirdìrisi (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · sh krenuti stranputicom (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · eu maldan behera joan (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · de auf die schiefe Bahn geraten (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · es irse cuesta abajo (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · es echarse a perder (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime) · fi mennä pieleen (to go wrong, to turn toward immorality or crime)