worst

1. superlative form of bad: most bad
   1. Most inferior; doing the least good.

      I think putting oil on a burn is the worst thing you can do.

   2. Most unfavorable.

      That's the worst news I've had all day.

   3. Most harmful or severe.

      The worst storm we had last winter knocked down our power lines.

   4. Used with the definite article and an implied noun: something that is worst.

      None of these photographs of me are good, but this one is definitely the worst.

1. superlativesuperlative form of badly: most badly; least well.

   She's the worst-informed of the lot.

   2 more examples

   My sore leg hurts worst when it's cold and rainy.

   This is the worst-written essay I've ever seen.

plural worsts

1. Something or someone that is the worst.

   The humorist helps people to explore and confront their worsts

   1991, Don C. Dinkmeyer, Jr., The Encouragement Book: Becoming a Positive Person, page 201

present singular third person worsts · participle present worsting · participle past worsted · past worsted

1. archaictransitiveTo make worse.
2. datedintransitiveTo grow worse; to deteriorate.

   Anne haggard, Mary coarse, every face in the neighbourhood worsting.

   1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC

3. rareTo outdo or defeat, especially in battle.

   The […] Philistines were worsted by the captivated ark.

   1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London

   3 more examples

   Her joy and pride in the honour paid to her darling son Adam was beginning to be worsted in the conflict with the jealousy and fretfulness which had revived when Adam came to tell her that Captain Donnithorne desired him to join the dancers in the hall.

   1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Dance”, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book third, pages 205–206

   Jo carried her love of liberty and hate of conventionalities to such an unlimited extent that she naturally found herself worsted in an argument.

   1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC

   The higher classes see the unions, the strikes, the May Day Celebrations, and feel the calamity that is threatening them, and their terror passes into an instinct of self-defense and hatred. They know that if for one instant they are worsted in the struggle with their oppressed slaves, they will perish, because the slaves are exasperated and their exasperation is growing more intense with every day of oppression.

   1894, Leo Tolstoï [i.e., Leo Tolstoy], “Contradiction between Our Life and our Christian Conscience”, in Constance Garnett, transl., The Kingdom of God is within You: or, Christianity Not as a Mystical Doctrine, but as a New Life-conception. […], London: Walter Scott, […], →OCLC, page 120

plural Worsts

1. A surname from German.