bad sort, a



bad sort, a

An unpleasant, mean person, as in We cautioned Bill about his friend, who was clearly a bad sort. The antonym is a good sort, a pleasant, kind person, as in She's a good sort, always helping her neighbors. The latter is stronger than not a bad sort, as in He seems ill-tempered now and then, but he's not a bad sort. All three terms use a sort in the sense of "kind of person." [Second half of 1800s]
See also: bad

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Hengist-Ancient Germanic
MartinMAHR-tən (English), mar-TEN (French), MAHR-teen (German, Finnish), MAHR-tin (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish), MAWR-teen (Hungarian), mahr-TIN (Bulgarian)English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Russian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croa
FinneganFIN-ə-gənIrish, English (Modern)
Idony-English (Archaic)
Zola (2)-Southern African, Zulu
Malvolio-Literature