not bad

adjective

Reasonably good; almost good; mediocre.

“Near-synonym: nonbad”

Similar
not half badOKacceptableadequateall rightaverageclose enoughclose enough for government work
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Meanings

adjectivenot bad (not comparable)
  1. not comparableReasonably good; almost good; mediocre.

    Near-synonym: nonbad

    1 more example

    What did you think of the guitarist? Not bad, but that solo could have been better.

    Synonyms: not half bad, OK, acceptable, adequate, all right, average, close enough, close enough for government work

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveReasonably good; almost good; mediocre.

Similar
not half badOKacceptableadequateall rightaverageclose enoughclose enough for government workclose enough for horseshoes and hand grenadesdecentfavoursomefairfinejakegood enoughgood enough for government workhunky dorykoshermustn't grumblenonbad

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveexcellent

Similar
bang-upbullycorkingcrackingdandygreatgroovykeenneatniftypeachyslap-upswellsmashingoldgood
Also see
acceptablebang-upbullycorkingcrackingdandygoodgreatgroovykeenneatniftynonbadokoldpeachyreasonablesatisfactoryslap-upsmashingswell

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Catalan no està malament
  • no està malamentreasonably good
Chinese Mandarin 不錯 /不错, 不賴 /不赖
  • 不錯 /不错 (bùcuò)reasonably good
  • 不賴 /不赖 (bùlài)reasonably good
Dutch niet slecht
  • niet slechtreasonably good
Finnish ihan hyvä, ei hassumpi
  • ihan hyväreasonably good
  • ei hassumpireasonably good
French pas mal, pas pire
  • pas malreasonably good
  • pas pirereasonably good
  • pas si pirereasonably good
German nicht schlecht, nicht schlimm
  • nicht schlechtreasonably good
  • nicht schlimmreasonably good
Hungarian nem rossz
  • nem rosszreasonably good
Indonesian lumayan
  • lumayanreasonably good
Italian niente male, non male
  • niente malereasonably good
  • non malereasonably good
  • non c'è malereasonably good
Japanese 悪くない
  • 悪くない (waruku nai)reasonably good
Latin nōn male
  • nōn malereasonably good
Lithuanian neblogai
  • neblogaireasonably good
Norwegian Bokmål ikke så verst
  • ikke så verstreasonably good
Polish niezgorszy, niezły
  • niezgorszyreasonably good
  • niezłyreasonably good
Portuguese nada mau
  • nada maureasonably good
Russian ничего́, неплохо́й
  • ничего́ (ničevó)reasonably good
  • неплохо́й (neploxój)reasonably good
  • недурно́й (nedurnój)reasonably good
Spanish nada mal
  • nada malreasonably good
Swedish inte illa, inte fy skam
  • inte illareasonably good
  • inte fy skamreasonably good
Thai ไม่เลว
  • ไม่เลว (mâi-leeo)reasonably good
Turkish fena değil
  • fena değilreasonably good
Ukrainian непоганий
  • непоганий (nepohanyj)reasonably good
Cite this entry
APA

not bad. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20bad

MLA

“not bad.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20bad. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “not bad,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/not%20bad.

Source: not bad on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.