Meaning & use
bad actor
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Meanings
nouncountabledisapproving
A person, group or country that behaves harmfully or dishonestly, especially by breaking rules or causing damage online.
Grammar: Countable; it does not mean a poor performer but someone acting in bad faith.
Patterns
- a bad actor in something
- bad actors online
Security teams are on guard against bad actors trying to steal data.
A few bad actors ruined the forum for everyone else.
Regulators say bad actors in the market must be punished.
nouncountableinformaldisapproving
An unreliable or troublesome person or thing that causes trouble for others in a group.
Grammar: A broader, informal use for someone who regularly causes problems.
Patterns
- a known bad actor
The company dropped the supplier after identifying it as a bad actor.
One bad actor in the team can lower morale.
Everyone in the town knew he was a bad actor.
nouncountable
A performer who is not skilled at acting.
Grammar: A literal use where bad describes the skill of an actor; it can also be written as two separate words.
Patterns
- a bad actor in a film
The lead was a bad actor, and the film suffered.
Even a bad actor can steal a scene with the right line.
The critic called him a bad actor in a good play.
Word forms
| plural | bad actors |
|---|
Common combinations
- malicious bad actor
- A malicious bad actor planted the virus.
- state-sponsored bad actors
- State-sponsored bad actors targeted the network.
- bad actors online
- Bad actors online spread false claims.
- deter bad actors
- Strong passwords help deter bad actors.
- remove bad actors
- The platform removed bad actors from the site.
Synonyms and how they differ
- wrongdoer
- A wrongdoer is any person who does wrong, and it sounds more moral and old-fashioned than bad actor.
- troublemaker
- A troublemaker causes problems, often small ones, whereas a bad actor usually acts with harmful intent.
- offender
- Offender is a legal term for someone who has broken a law, while bad actor can describe wider harmful behavior.
- villain
- A villain is a wicked character in a story, and bad actor is plain, business-like language for real people or groups.
Opposites
Word family
Practice
In a news story about cybersecurity, a 'bad actor' most likely means:
Choose one answer.
In security and business contexts bad actor means someone acting with harmful intent. The other options use only the literal acting meaning, which does not fit this context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bad actor”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.