do one's worst

verb

inflict the worst possible damage one can

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Meanings

verbdo one's worst (third-person singular simple present does one's worst, present participle doing one's worst, simple past did one's worst, past participle done one's worst)

present singular third person does one's worst · participle present doing one's worst · past did one's worst · participle past done one's worst

  1. inflict the worst possible damage one can

    “Thumbs!” ordered Mr Big. “Do your worst with the boy!” Frank looked on in terror as the man bent back his humongous Thumbs, ready to cause damage. The henchman pressed them hard into the boy’s ears. Frank felt like his brain was going to burst. “ARGH!” he screamed.

    2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

do one's worst. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20one's%20worst

MLA

“do one's worst.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20one's%20worst. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “do one's worst,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/do%20one's%20worst.

Source: do one's worst on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.