big bad

noun

variants or Big Bad

plural big bads or Big Bads

: a major villain or antagonist (as in a movie, show, or game)

When Ursula, the story's big bad, took to the screen, I would run behind the entertainment center and cover my eyes, a fact my mom loves to remind me about whenever she gets the chance.

—KT Hawbaker

As the show [Buffy the Vampire Slayer] aged, the Big Bads became more dangerous and the lessons more adult, but Buffy never gave up …

—Kaitlin Thomas

The Big Bad this time around is the wind mage Vaati, who has captured Zelda, and it's your quest to defeat him and prevent the unholy union of princess and evil eyeball-blob-thing.

—Tony Ponce

Examples of big bad in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By then, however, the villain of the phase had been introduced as Kang (Jonathan Majors), with pieces falling into place for an epic battle against him, leaving little room for a second big bad. —Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 2 July 2025

That case finds Frank running afoul of a big bad played by Danny Huston. —Randall Colburn, EW.com, 16 June 2025

Once Blythe, Henson and the team identify the big bad, the series spends a number of episodes unpacking the villain’s origin story at a snail’s pace. —Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 25 June 2025

Reneé Rapp, Bowser Rapp presents herself as a bit of a chaotic villain, not unlike the Mario world’s ultimate big bad. —Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 6 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2001, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for big bad

• comrade
• dryad
• dyad
• forbad
• grandad
• granddad
• keypad
• nomad
• notepad
• postgrad
• sinbad
• tetrad