1
chiefly US, informal + sometimes impolite
: ready to cause or get into trouble : mean
pretending to be a badass gunslinger—
L. L. King
L. L. King2
chiefly US, informal + sometimes impolite
: of formidable strength or skill
such a badass guitar player—N'Gai Croal
N'Gai Croal
chiefly US, informal + sometimes impolite
: a person who is badass
Examples of badass in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 4 Mar. 2025
In December of 2024, our sister site Deadline reported that the series’ leads — Kelly Reilly, who plays badass Beth Dutton, and Cole Hauser, who is Beth’s husband, rough-hewn Rip Wheeler — had struck deals to reprise their roles in a new spinoff.
—Charlie Mason, TVLine, 14 Feb. 2025
In what could be considered her Bond villain moment, Moore switched gears and played a bad guy who gave new meaning to the term badass in this successful franchise followup.
—Dan Heching, CNN, 26 Feb. 2025
In the first scene, Hiccup awkwardly struggles during dragon training, while the badass Astrid (Nico Parker) excels with more talent and confidence.
—Bill Desowitz, IndieWire, 12 Feb. 2025
But [producer] David Leitch and his company wanted to create a different kind of action hero that doesn’t look like a badass until the situation calls for it.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 4 Feb. 2025
Pritzker: What makes Madison Wells Live different is the idea that our film team and our live team mix very closely, and that the entirety of our company is based on telling stories about badass women and people pushing boundaries.
—Jeryl Brunner, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
Garcia continues the procedure — a very badass move, objectively speaking — but kicks Trinity off the job and instead has Whitaker take over.
—Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 6 Feb. 2025
The Blackpink alum arrived at Chanel's haute-couture spring-summer 2025 show during Paris Fashion Week looking like nothing short of a beautiful, badass bird.
—Marci Robin, Allure, 28 Jan. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
The trailer is full of blood, guns and badass narration.
—Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 4 Mar. 2025
In December of 2024, our sister site Deadline reported that the series’ leads — Kelly Reilly, who plays badass Beth Dutton, and Cole Hauser, who is Beth’s husband, rough-hewn Rip Wheeler — had struck deals to reprise their roles in a new spinoff.
—Charlie Mason, TVLine, 14 Feb. 2025
In what could be considered her Bond villain moment, Moore switched gears and played a bad guy who gave new meaning to the term badass in this successful franchise followup.
—Dan Heching, CNN, 26 Feb. 2025
In the first scene, Hiccup awkwardly struggles during dragon training, while the badass Astrid (Nico Parker) excels with more talent and confidence.
—Bill Desowitz, IndieWire, 12 Feb. 2025
But [producer] David Leitch and his company wanted to create a different kind of action hero that doesn’t look like a badass until the situation calls for it.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 4 Feb. 2025
Pritzker: What makes Madison Wells Live different is the idea that our film team and our live team mix very closely, and that the entirety of our company is based on telling stories about badass women and people pushing boundaries.
—Jeryl Brunner, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
Garcia continues the procedure — a very badass move, objectively speaking — but kicks Trinity off the job and instead has Whitaker take over.
—Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 6 Feb. 2025
The Blackpink alum arrived at Chanel's haute-couture spring-summer 2025 show during Paris Fashion Week looking like nothing short of a beautiful, badass bird.
—Marci Robin, Allure, 28 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Badass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/badass. Accessed 23 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share