feel-bad

[ feel-bad ]

adjective

, Informal.

1. intended to make one feel unhappy, depressed, or dissatisfied, often to arouse one’s conscience or understanding:

   a feel-bad documentary about Nagasaki;

   feel-bad financial reports.

Word History and Origins

Origin of feel-bad¹

First recorded in 1980–85; feel ( def ) + bad ¹( def ) on the model of feel-good ( def )

Idioms and Phrases

Also, feel bad about . Experience regret, sadness, embarrassment, or a similar unpleasant emotion. For example, I feel bad about not attending the funeral , or The teacher's scolding made Bobby feel bad . [First half of 1800s]

More About Feel-Bad

What does feel-bad mean?

Feel-bad describes something intended to make you feel unhappy or upset in order to engage your conscience or sympathy, as in Sayed’s feel-bad video about a struggling town had the whole class thinking about how to help the town.

Feel-bad is an informal term that is used to describe something intended to make someone feel negatively in some type of way. You might create something feel-bad to inform, entertain, or inspire sympathy and understanding in your audience. Feel-bad pieces often make you feel uncomfortable. Examples include horror or extremely violent films, documentaries about disasters or atrocities, music with depressing lyrics and somber tones, and books recounting negative, relatable stories.

Feel-bad can also describe something more general, such as a period of depression or dissatisfaction, as in a feel-bad day or a feel-bad season.

Example: When Otto is really sad, he listens to feel-bad songs to express his feelings.

Where does feel-bad come from?

The first records of the term feel-bad come from around the 1980s. It combines the terms feel, meaning “to be emotionally affected” and bad, meaning “regretful, dejected, or upset,” and is modeled on its antonym feel-good, which was first recorded slightly before feel-bad.

Feel-bad is modeled on feel-good, which describes something that intends to make you feel happy or satisfied. Feel-good and feel-bad are adjective forms of the verb phrases feel good and feel bad. Feel good means “to experience positivity,” as in Looking forward to vacation always makes Jamal feel good. Feel bad means “to experience negativity,” as in Lola feels bad when she has to share bad news.

Did you know … ?

What are some synonyms for feel-bad?

• depressing
• disconcerting
• disheartening
• distressing
• upsetting

What are some words that share a root or word element with feel-bad? 

• feel
• bad
• feel-good

What are some words that often get used in discussing feel-bad?

• article
• attitude
• conscience

What are some words feel-bad may be commonly confused with?

• feel bad

How is feel-bad used in real life?

Feel-bad is mostly used informally to describe a person’s behavior or the intended emotions received from a creative work.

Loyola, the feel-good story of a feel-bad season, will play on Saturday for the Final Four. Amazing.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 23, 2018

“Dirt” off Stooges' album , “Fun House” was my go-to feel-bad song for most of my life. #Iggy #PartsUnknown Tomorrow.

— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) May 3, 2015

"The antidote to feel-good history is not feel-bad history but honest and inclusive history." James W. Loewen

— Silas Atkins (@silasdatkins) March 3, 2022

Try using feel-bad!

Is feel-bad used correctly in the following sentence?

“I always feel-bad when I show up late to parties.”