bad guy

noun

informal : the villain in a story : baddie

played the bad guy in the movie

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

: a criminal

Designed to keep guns out of the hands of bad guys and children …—

Popular Science

: 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

: 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

: 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

Examples of bad guy in a Sentence

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Ultimately, Wolf Man is more successful at driving this theme home, in large part because The Wolfman merely stumbles into it, more motivated by the thrill of having Hopkins play a bad guy than by an interest in exploring something deeper. —

Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 22 Jan. 2025 Mutant hero smashes bad guys with a mop: perfect entertainment for the whole family! —

Michaela Zee, Variety, 21 Jan. 2025 The next obstacle, however, is every bad guy's dream and not great news for law enforcement: a 13-ft (4-m) stretch of metal spikes – the kind of thing police use to thwart high speed chases. —

New Atlas, 9 Jan. 2025 Reacher dives deep into an undercover ring by securing a job inside the operation though the stakes are high as he’s seen ducking from gunfire, explosions and no shortage of bad guys. —

Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for bad guy