Meaning & use
neither good nor bad
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phrase
not especially good and not especially bad; average or neutral.
Grammar: Used after a linking verb like 'be', 'seem', or 'feel': The food was neither good nor bad.
Patterns
- be neither good nor bad
- seem neither good nor bad
- feel neither good nor bad
The movie was neither good nor bad; I forgot it the next day.
Her performance was neither good nor bad, just average.
The weather was neither good nor bad, so we went for a walk anyway.
Common combinations
- neither good nor bad news
- The report was neither good nor bad news for the company.
- neither good nor bad for you
- That snack is neither good nor bad for your health.
- neither good nor bad at something
- He is neither good nor bad at chess; he just plays for fun.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mediocre
- Mediocre often suggests slight disapproval, while 'neither good nor bad' is more neutral and factual.
- average
- Average is a more direct way to say something is in the middle, but it can also mean 'typical', which 'neither good nor bad' does not.
- so-so
- So-so is informal and means 'not very good', while 'neither good nor bad' is completely balanced.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: neither good nor bad or either good or bad?
neither good nor bad vs either good or bad
'Either good or bad' means one or the other, not both; it does not mean average.
Practice
The service at the hotel was ______ — not great, but not terrible either.
Choose one answer.
'Neither good nor bad' is the correct fixed phrase meaning average. 'Either good or bad' is wrong because it means one or the other, not a middle point. 'Neither good or bad' is ungrammatical because 'neither' pairs with 'nor', not 'or'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “neither good nor bad”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.