bad actor

plural bad actors

1. idiomaticlawAn individual or entity with a prior criminal conviction, or who has been sanctioned by the court or regulator.

   More needs to be done to combat financial crime, a senior lawyer at HSBC has said as he called for global collaboration over the rules imposed on banks to keep “bad actors” out of the financial system.

   2016 September 26, Jill Treanor, quoting Stuart Levey, “Global collaboration needed on ‘bad actor’ rules, says HSBC legal chief”, in The Guardian

   1 more example

   The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee has warned that YouTube’s powerful recommendation algorithm may be “optimising for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content” or susceptible to “manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities”.

   2018 February 5, Paul Lewis, quoting Mark Warner, “Senator warns YouTube algorithm may be open to manipulation by 'bad actors'”, in The Guardian

2. idiomaticA person with malicious intent.
3. idiomaticAn ill-intentioned, mean, badly behaved or ill-tempered person.First known use 19th c.

   But the soldiers continue to suffer and die by the thousands, and the country to bleed at every pore. How long shall these things be and the bold, bad actors who have arranged the drama dare to show their faces among an outraged constituency?

   1862 December 27, “The Neros at Washington”, in Dayton Daily Empire, page 2

   1 more example

   At this stage of the game excitement ran high; all were on their feet and crowding close upon the Chair – all were talking at once. One Democratic brother loudly called another a G-d d--d fool and then apologised. The Convention was a Pandemonium of bad actors.

   1857 September 12, “The County Convention”, in The Evansville Daily Journal, page 2

4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bad, actor.

   Synonyms: criminal, wrongdoer, malefactor