Bad name
see: give a bad name
Contemporary Examples
No, you are going to ruin any chance you have and give us a bad name.
The Resurrection of Kristen Stewart Marlow Stern October 10, 2014
By contrast, George W. Bush launched two disastrous wars, and in so doing gave GOP bluster a bad name.
Romney Response to Egypt Embassy Attack Makes It Easy for Obama Peter Beinart September 12, 2012
Peter Beinart on how Team Tea is giving populism a bad name.
The Tea Partiers’ Phony Populism Peter Beinart February 7, 2010
His flaw was that he sometimes gave rigor and intellectual honesty a bad name by reminding people how unsettling it can be.
Who’ll Replace Larry Summers? The Daily Beast September 21, 2010
Salon called it a franchise that “is exactly the kind of movie that gives sequels a bad name.”
Top 10 Most Played-Out Movie Franchises Marlow Stern February 16, 2011
Historical Examples
This is the Butterwort (Pinguicula), and it is not a bad name, for the leaves remind one of butter.
The Romance of Plant Life G. F. Scott Elliot
You know you’re giving the school a bad name by being so lazy.
Frank Roscoe’s Secret Allen Chapman
I spoke in some dismay, for in those days privateers bore a bad name.
Athelstane Ford Allen Upward
If your feeling is not pride, why call a good thing by a bad name?
Wilfrid Cumbermede George MacDonald
Like a dog, one may give a word a bad name, yet it may be a good dog and a very good word when rightly used.
Appletons’ Popular Science Monthly, April 1899 Various
Read Also:
- Bad news
an annoying, disturbing, unwelcome thing or person; nuisance; troublemaker. Contemporary Examples This month, the number was 49.6 percent—bad news, and below 50 yet again. Slowdown: What’s Wrong With the Real Economy? Alex Klein September 3, 2012 It was clear enough to every American that Hitler and Tojo were bad news, and that was that. Is […]
- Bad news travels fast
bad news travels fast People are quick to discuss the misfortunes of others. Historical Examples bad news travels fast, and to the German people, who had been kept in ignorance of reverses, the news came with stunning effect. The Sequel George A. Taylor “bad news travels fast,” said Ballard, drawing a chair to the bedside. […]
- Bad off
not good in any manner or degree. having a wicked or evil character; morally reprehensible: There is no such thing as a bad boy. of poor or inferior quality; defective; deficient: a bad diamond; a bad spark plug. inadequate or below standard; not satisfactory for use: bad heating; Living conditions in some areas are very […]
- Bad paper
a less-than-honorable discharge from military service. Historical Examples Learn how to make that infernal note-book perfectly all right in spite of the bad paper. Rough-Hewn Dorothy Canfield One of these is the prevalence of bad paper, overladen with clay and with Modern methods. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 2 Various noun phrase Worthless […]
- Bad patch
noun a period of poor luck Examples Their marriage has hit a bad patch. Historical Examples Giving up the bad patch as hopeless, I would go on and, after I had left it behind, discover the dynamite capable of blasting it. The Life of the Fly J. Henri Fabre It was just a bad patch, […]