Meaning & use
baddie
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A villain or wicked character in a story, film, game or cartoon, especially in light entertainment.
Grammar: Informal and often paired with goodie: the goodies and the baddies.
Patterns
- the baddie in something
- play the baddie
The children cheered when the baddie finally tripped over his own cape.
He always plays the baddie in school plays.
In the cartoon, the baddie plots to steal the town's treasure.
nouncountableinformalhumorous
A criminal or wrongdoer, as the police or ordinary people describe them in casual speech.
Grammar: Lighthearted when describing real people: catch the baddies.
Patterns
- catch the baddies
- lock up the baddies
My nephew wants to join the police when he grows up and catch baddies.
The shop owner joked that the baddie had left without paying.
The news anchor referred to the thieves as the baddies of the week.
Word forms
| plural | baddies |
|---|
Common combinations
- goodies and baddies
- The film clearly separates the goodies and baddies.
- the main baddie
- The main baddie is revealed in the final scene.
- chase the baddies
- The police chased the baddies through the market.
- play the baddie
- The famous actor loves to play the baddie.
- a cartoon baddie
- The cartoon baddie wore a black cape and laughed loudly.
Synonyms and how they differ
- villain
- Villain is the standard word for the main evil character, and sounds more serious than the playful baddie.
- bad guy
- Bad guy is the common American equivalent, and is equally informal.
- antagonist
- Antagonist is a literary term for the character who opposes the hero, who need not be evil at all.
- crook
- Crook is an informal word for a dishonest or criminal person in real life rather than a story.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: baddie or baddy? baddie or goodie?
baddie vs baddy
Baddy is simply another spelling of baddie, and both are used in British English.
baddie vs goodie
A goodie is a hero or something nice such as a treat, the opposite of a baddie.
Practice
In the children's film, the clumsy ______ keeps tripping while chasing the hero.
Choose one answer.
Baddie means the villain, which fits the character chasing the hero. A goodie would be on the hero's side, so would not chase him.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “baddie”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.