bad boy

noun

: a person who flouts convention
a literary bad boy

Examples of bad boy in a Sentence

He has become known as the bad boy of the American television industry.
Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
To get around this, a plan is hatched to set Kat up with bad boy Patrick Verona (played by the late Heath Ledger), who is paid to take her out, though things quickly get more complicated when real feelings develop. Jane Lacroix, People.com, 2 Nov. 2024 But with new admissible evidence emerging, another question lingers: have the country’s most notorious bad boys of Beverly Hills, Erik and Lyle Menendez, finally paid their debt to society? Jeetendr Sehdev, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024 One of these price-on-request bad boys will set you back by at least US$30,000 – and that's not counting the top-of-the-line lenses. New Atlas, 20 Sep. 2024 The film came out in 1969 and set the tone for the 1970s bad boy—motorbike, Ray Ban sunglasses, leather jackets. Nadja Sayej, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for bad boy 

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bad boy was in 1860

Dictionary Entries Near bad boy

Cite this Entry

“Bad boy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bad%20boy. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!