bad actor

noun

plural bad actors

: a person, group, country, etc. who purposely and usually repeatedly engages in very bad behavior (such as committing crimes or causing harm to others)

Giving users a way to prove that they're being harassed with, say, a screenshot or some other form of authentication could help Twitter catch bad actors, even after they've covered their tracks.

—Issie Lapowsky

A perennial diplomatic bad actor, North Korea has already rattled its sabers at the opening of the Obama administration.

—Alex Kingsbury

"We've got to break away from the notion," as the U.A.W.'s [United Auto Workers] director of public relations, Peter G. Laarman, puts it, "that labor is a 'bad actor' in the economy. …"

—Harry Stein

also : something that causes trouble, danger, or a problem

The bad actor in male pattern hair loss is DHT, a metabolic product of testosterone.

—Jane E. Brody

We have special ducts throughout the vapor bath that carry away all the toxic bad actors.

—PC Today

Examples of bad actor in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This helps no one except bad actors who had no business wearing the badge. —E.d. Cauchi, CBS News, 21 Feb. 2025

In an interview with NBC News, Duckworth said young service members are targeted by bad actors, such as payday lenders and disreputable car dealers, particularly because military members' wages can be garnished. —Melissa Chan, NBC News, 20 Feb. 2025

But in a landscape tarnished by bad actors, where trust and transparency have been broken one too many times, businesses struggle to find experts whose values align with theirs. —Kyle J. Russell, USA TODAY, 20 Feb. 2025

But compelling evidence of nationwide abuse is lacking, and no university was singled out as a bad actor justifying curtailing or shutting down all lifesaving research, every year, everywhere. —Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Boards, Orlando Sentinel, 20 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1879, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bad actor

• attractor
• cofactor
• compactor
• contactor
• contractor
• distractor
• extractor
• impactor
• protractor
• reactor
• redactor
• refractor