# worse
## English
### Alternative forms

* verse (Bermuda)

### Etymology

From Middle English worse, werse, from Old English wiersa, from Proto-West Germanic *wirsiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Cognate with Dutch wers (“worse”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /wɜːs/
* (US) IPA: /wɝs/
* (US, New York City, archaic) IPA: [wəɪs]
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s

### Adjective

worse
* (for non-slang definitions) comparative form of bad: more bad
    Your exam results are worse than before.

#### Derived terms

* bad comes to worse
* be the worse for drink
* for better or for worse
* for better or worse
* for the worse
* go from bad to worse
* make matters worse
* none the worse
* none to the worse
* one's bark is worse than one's bite
* so much the worse
* so much the worse for
* take a turn for the worse
* the cure is worse than the disease
* what is worse
* worse-case
* worse comes to worse
* worse comes to worst
* worse for liquor
* worse for ware
* worse for wear
* worse luck
* worse off
* worse things happen at sea

#### Related terms

* worst

#### Translations
### Adverb

worse
* comparative form of badly (adverb): more badly
    The harder you try, the worse you do.
** 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
* Less skillfully.
    He drives worse than anyone else I know.
* More severely or seriously.
    The bad news affected me worse then it did my brother.
* (sentence adverb) Used to start a sentence describing something that is worse.
    Her leg is infected. Still worse, she's developing a fever.

#### Translations
### Noun

worse
* (obsolete) Loss; disadvantage; defeat
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 4:12:Judah was put to the worse before Israel.
* That which is worse; something less good.
    Do not think the worse of him for his enterprise.

### Verb

worse (third-person singular simple present worses, present participle worsing, simple past and past participle worsed)
* (obsolete, transitive) To make worse; to put at disadvantage; to discomfit.
** 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:Weapons more violent, when next we meet, / May serve to better us and worse our foes.

### References

* ↑ “worse”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Rowse, WOREs, owers, owres, resow, rowse, serow, sower, sowre, swore

## Afrikaans
### Noun

worse
* plural of wors

## Chinese
### Alternative forms

* worst

### Etymology

From English worse or worst.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wœs⁵⁵/

### Adjective

worse
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) bad; terrible (usually used with intensifier 好)
** 2012 January 20, 楊千樺 [Miriam Yeung], quotee, “楊千嬅最壞打算屋企生”, in 東方日報‎:「醫生幫我搞好晒！應該冇問題卦！不過如果好worse嘅話，惟有用最古老方法喺屋企生囉！咁突發都估計唔到架！」Doctors will help me settle everything properly. There should be no problem. But if it becomes very bad, then I will have to use the ancient way of giving birth at home. No one knows if this can suddenly happen!
** 2020 January 22, 馬仲儀, quotee, “【武漢肺炎大爆發】新病毒與冬季流感同時殺到 前線醫護憂隱性個案爆發”, in 眾新聞‎:「逼到你伸開隻手就掂到對方（鄰床病人），好worse㗎嘛。」(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 2020 May 31, 阿然, quotee, “【香港的傷痕】一名大學生的四件事——上Gear、被捕、求醫、見官”, in 獨立媒體‎:「如果我變返做勇武，咁情況一定好worse（糟糕），有啲嘢令我睇唔過眼。」(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 2022 May 27, 黃世英, quotee, “【母親節】乳癌化療期再染新冠撐過痛楚　媽媽：只想三代同堂樂聚天倫”, in 香港經濟日報 TOPick‎:自己當時懷孕近九個月，而疫情嚴重，不方便外出，一想到不能探望、買物資送給在家隔離的媽媽，心裡非常擔憂，睇唔到佢幾辛苦，我又大住肚，嗰日喊咗一個朝早，覺得好無助，世界好worse（糟糕），公立醫院冇晒資源。(please add an English translation of this quotation)

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* wars, warse, weers, weorse, werce, wers, werse, wershe, wersse, wirse, wors, worsse
* wærse, werrse, wrse, wurse (Early Middle English)

### Etymology

From Old English wiersa, from Proto-West Germanic *wirssō, variant of *wirsiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Doublet of werre (“worse”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈwurs(ə)/ (from late Old English wyrsa)
* IPA: /ˈwɛrs(ə)/, (later) /ˈwars(ə)/ (of unclear origin; compare Old Norse verri)

### Adjective

worse
* comparative degree of yvel
* comparative degree of ille

#### Descendants

* English: worse
** → Cantonese: worse (Hong Kong)
* Scots: warse

#### References

* “werse, adj. (comparative).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

### Adverb

worse
* comparative degree of yvel (adverb)
* comparative degree of ille (adverb)

#### Descendants

* English: worse
* Scots: warse

#### References

* “werse, adv. comparative.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

### Noun

worse (uncountable)
* Something or someone which is more yvel or ille (i.e. worse).

#### Related terms

* worsen

#### Descendants

* English: worse
* Scots: warse

#### References

* “wers(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.