worse/wɜːs/EtymologyFrom Middle English worse, werse, from Old English wiersa, from Proto-West Germanic *wirsiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *wirsizô. Cognate with Dutch wers (“worse”).worse means Less skillfully. Lexicurio rates it Distinctive — a strength score of 69 out of 100.advLess skillfully.“He drives worse than anyone else I know.”More severely or seriously.“The bad news affected me worse than it did my brother.”Used to start a sentence describing something that is worse.“Her leg is infected. Still worse, she's developing a fever.”nounLoss; disadvantage; defeat“Judah was put to the worse before Israel.”That which is worse; something less good.“Do not think the worse of him for his enterprise.”verbTo make worse; to put at disadvantage; to discomfit.“Weapons more violent, when next we meet, / May serve to better us and worse our foes.”