a bad egg:

(plural: ‘bad eggs‘; the phrase opposite in meaning is ‘a good egg’)

a bad egg, threatening to kill

a worthless, dishonest person;

a wrong-doer; a person who does or tries to do harm to others;

a bad person in a group or team,

Nick Griffin, British National Party leader, accused of being a ‘bad egg’ by the Labour Party, England

e.g.

Just because he’s been an irresponsible youngster just for once, everybody has started calling Andrew a ‘bag egg’.

Mary knew her boyfriend was a bad egg but she was could not break up with him because she loved so much.

It’s a fact that every family has a bad egg who makes the rest of the family lose their face before their relatives, but the Martins are such a big family that you need extra fingers to count all the bad eggs!

Every political party has at least one bad egg who spoils the reputation of the party, and the party chief and the other members have a tough time handling those bad eggs.

For a blog post that accuses Nick Griffin of being a bad egg, please click here. For an informative article on what a ‘bad egg’, used as an idiom, means, please click here, for an excellent website posting, with audio, that explains what a good egg and a bad egg are, please click here, for an article that shows us how we come across this phrase/expression in our daily readings, please click here and for an amusing item of news about a real egg former in which chicken bad eggs and human ‘bad egg’(idiom) are mixed-up to create a pun, please click here.
A more common meaning is an egg of a chicken that has gone bad (a spoiled egg). For an article that explains a condition of a chicken egg depending on how it stays in water, please click here.

About the Author:BC Kumar

BC Kumar, an English Language Teacher, taught in numerous countries including Ethiopia, Oman and India, shares his knowledge and passion for the English Language. Disclaimer: This is a free educational website and all content has been compiled by the author. All copyrights to images and videos belong to their respective owners.

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