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bad guy

noun

Definition of bad guy

1 informal : the villain in a story : baddie
//played the bad guy in the movie

2 informal : someone who is likened to the villain in a story: such as

a : a criminal Designed to keep guns out of the hands of bad guys and children … — Popular Science

b : a military enemy … a decision that owes more to parochial conflicts within the Armed Forces than to doing the best job of surveilling bad guys.— Stuart F. Brown

c : someone who deserves to be blamed or criticized for causing a bad situation Meanwhile, it's the environmentalists who are now portrayed as the bad guys, hiring lots of lawyers, consorting with congressmen …— Eric Alterman

d : a person who treats other people harshly or strictly : a person who says or does unpopular things Parenting isn't just about having beautiful kids and being busy. It's about dealing with problems, and your success as a parent depends on your willingness to be the bad guy. If you aren't willing to be the bad guy, you shouldn't be a parent.— Roy Bragg

Recent Examples on the Web

//The Mandalorian freezes his bounties in carbonite — just as bad guy Jabba once did to Han Solo.
— Eliana Dockterman, Time, "Let's Talk About That Twist in the First Episode of The Mandalorian," 12 Nov. 2019
//Ewan McGregor is playing Batman villain Black Mask with Chris Messina stepping in as bad guy Victor Zsasz and Rosie Perez taking the role of Renee Montoya.
— Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, "First 'Birds of Prey' Trailer Brings Back Harley Quinn," 1 Oct. 2019
//Of course, any good fairy tale has to have good guys and bad guys, with lots of deadpan comic relief coming from the latter, one of whom happens to be both a zoologist and a con artist, a pretty neat trick in and of itself.
— Chuck Yarborough, cleveland, "‘Abominable’ slips a lesson into a sweet tale of adventure and discovery," 23 Sep. 2019
//In The Thirty-Nine Steps, the stoic Richard Hannay is also caught between a rock and a hard place, fearful of the legitimate authorities (due to a misunderstanding) and the bad guys (due to his being a good guy).
— Madeleine Kearns, National Review, "Review: Angel Has Fallen," 21 Sep. 2019
//Kathy Derrick, Denver With the open-carry law in Texas and some of the people packing in Walmart, where was the good guy with a gun to take out the bad guy with a gun?
— Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, "Letters: Exposing abuse in the Boy Scouts of America (8/11/19)," 11 Aug. 2019
//Fast & Furious 9 could be rounding up a bunch of bad guys from past movies to create an order of evil, a crew of criminals, a brotherhood (or sisterhood?) of shadows, all looking for revenge on the people who have thwarted their plans in the past.
— Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, "What those post-credits scenes (and mysterious voice) reveal about Hobbs & Shaw's future," 3 Aug. 2019
//Still, the pacing is brisk and Raza's perilous journey into the London underworld, infiltrating a gang of Albanian bad guys, draws you in.
— Taylor Antrim, Vogue, "Three New Crime Shows To Get Hooked on Now," 12 Jan. 2019
//Throughout Liverpool's Champions League final encounter against Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos hardly did himself any favors to amend his reputation as one of football's bad guys, as the Spain defender injured both Mohamed Salah and Loris Karius.
— SI.com, "WATCH: Adebayo Akinfenwa Send Sergio Ramos Hilarious, Threatening Message," 6 June 2018

First Known Use of bad guy

1914, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Dictionary Entries near bad guy