not bad

Idioms and Phrases

Also, not half bad ; not so or too bad ; not too shabby . Fairly good, as in Not bad, said the conductor, but we need to play the scherzo again , or The movie wasn't half bad, but Jerry wanted to go home , or Our garden's not too bad this year , or How are things going?—Not too shabby . All of the terms involving bad , which imply that something is less bad than it might be, date from the mid-1700s. The last variant, using shabby in the sense of “inferior,” is slang of the late 1900s.

Example Sentences

Little George medicates memories of his Iraq mistake by painting not-bad pictures.

From The Daily Beast

Nicaragua has a not-bad 7.4 percent unemployment rate, which is a good start.

From The Daily Beast

There are not-bad verses of his; he wrote odes, and also seems to have put a dwn together.

From Project Gutenberg

Almond timed her on the level bit at Achres, and it was at the rate of over forty-five miles an hour-not bad for a touring car.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• adequate
• allowable
• bearable
• decent
• livable
• presentable
• respectable
• satisfactory
• sufficient
• sustainable