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Synonyms for Not good. (2016). Retrieved 2023, April 12, from https://thesaurus.plus/synonyms/not_good
Synonyms for Not good. N.p., 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2023. <https://thesaurus.plus/synonyms/not_good>.
Synonyms for Not good. 2016. Accessed April 12, 2023. https://thesaurus.plus/synonyms/not_good.
- atrocious
- awful
- cheap
- crummy
- dreadful
- lousy
- poor
- rough
- sad
- unacceptable
- blah
- bummer
- diddly
- downer
- garbage
- gross
- imperfect
- inferior
- junky
- synthetic
- abominable
- amiss
- bad news
- beastly
- careless
- cheesy
- crappy
- cruddy
- defective
- deficient
- dissatisfactory
- erroneous
- fallacious
- faulty
- godawful
- grody
- grungy
- icky
- inadequate
- incorrect
- off
- raunchy
- slipshod
- stinking
- substandard
- the pits
- unsatisfactory
On this page you’ll find 68 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to not good, such as: atrocious, awful, cheap, crummy, dreadful, and lousy.
Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
SYNONYM OF THE DAY
OCTOBER 26, 1985
WORDS RELATED TO NOT GOOD
- abominable
- amiss
- atrocious
- awful
- bad news
- beastly
- blah
- bummer
- careless
- cheap
- cheesy
- crappy
- cruddy
- crummy
- defective
- deficient
- diddly
- dissatisfactory
- downer
- dreadful
- erroneous
- fallacious
- faulty
- garbage
- godawful
- grody
- gross
- grungy
- icky
- imperfect
- inadequate
- incorrect
- inferior
- junky
- lousy
- not good
- off
- poor
- raunchy
- rough
- sad
- slipshod
- stinking
- substandard
- synthetic
- the pits
- unacceptable
- unsatisfactory
- abominable
- amiss
- atrocious
- awful
- bad news
- beastly
- blah
- bottom out
- bummer
- careless
- cheap
- cheesy
- crappy
- cruddy
- crummy
- defective
- deficient
- diddly
- dissatisfactory
- downer
- dreadful
- erroneous
- fallacious
- faulty
- garbage
- godawful
- grody
- gross
- grungy
- icky
- imperfect
- inadequate
- incorrect
- inferior
- junky
- lousy
- not good
- off
- poor
- raunchy
- rough
- sad
- slipshod
- stinking
- substandard
- synthetic
- the pits
- unacceptable
- unsatisfactory
Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Here’s something that’s good to know: No good means something has no use or value, and has no potential of becoming good. Not good means something is bad or undesirable. The correct way to use them isn’t that clear cut. At times, there’s no difference, and they can be used interchangeably.
No Good
When good is used as a noun, no can quantify or modify it. For example, “No good can come from this evil plan,” or “His suspicious behavior indicated that he was up to no good.” In these sentences, we can’t really use not in place of no because both nos refer to a quantity of zero good. And yes, that is the plural of no. Some writers connect no and good with a hyphen when it’s used as an adjective phrase that’s connected to a noun (e.g. “The no-good dishwasher stopped working again,”).No good is an adjective phrase when good modifies a noun and no indicates the degree to which good applies. No good is the complete absence of good. It means something is of no use or value for anything or to anyone. It can refer to a person, as in, “Jack was always in trouble. He was just no good.” It can describe something as useless or worthless, as in, “The spare tire is no good. It has a hole in it.” It can also describe something that’s gone bad or lost its effectiveness, as in, “This milk is no good. It expired last week.”
Not Good
Not good is used strictly as an adjective. Not acts to disqualify something from being good. It implies that something is either bad or mediocre. It’s used as an adjective to describe the condition or state of something, as in, “Chocolate is not good for dogs.” It can’t be used as a noun.Not good means something has (or once had) the potential to be good, but isn’t. For example, “That dinner was not good,” implies that particular meal tasted bad. Saying “That dinner was no good,” can imply that there wasn’t a single good part of the meal or that it didn’t satisfy the speaker’s hunger.Not good also can imply that a situation hasn’t reached a conclusion. “Mary’s chances of finishing the race after twisting her ankle are not good,” means that there’s very little possibility of Mary finishing her race. There may be some sliver of hope, but not much. If we said “Mary’s chances of finishing the race are no good,” it would mean it’s impossible.
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#1
What exactly is the difference between it’s no good and it’s not good? Thanks in advance. O
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#2
openmind said:
What exactly is the difference between it’s no good and it’s not good? Thanks in advance. O
Hello Openmind!! I hope this will help you!
be no good (ALSO be not any/much good)
to be useless or of low quality
Shoes are no good if they let in water.
Food aid isn’t much good until the fighting stops.
It’s not good >> it isn’t good >>> This essay is not good, please re write it!!!
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#3
Hi Artrella, Many thanks for your speedy and useful reply. I think I’m getting the drift with this no good thing now
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#4
openmind said:
Hi Artrella, Many thanks for your speedy and useful reply. I think I’m getting the drift with this no good thing now
»No good» is sometimes written as »no-good» and means having no worth, virtue, use, or chance of success (Mirriam-Webster Online).
»No-good» it is worse that just being not good. Particularly if used for a person.
You mother might tell you, «That guy is no-good. You should stay away from him. » Using »not good» just wouldn’t work here.
Of course, lots of other things can be no-good, not just people. A similar expression is good-for-nothing.
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#5
If something or something is no-good it has NO value.
If something is is not good it HAS value but is of poor quality.
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#6
openmind said:
What exactly is the difference between it’s no good and it’s not good? Thanks in advance. O
would you please give us some context as the phrases can have different meanings?
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#7
In the series Prison Break two prisoners are in their cells talking together that a C.O. comes to them and tell one of them:Scofield… get it together. Pope(warden) wants to see you.
His cellmate: No good, Fish. No one gets an audience with the Pope. Not unless he’s real interested in what you got going on.
According to your responses for »no good» and »not good», here the cellmate meas »it’s pointless, useless» which doesn’t make any sense. To my mind he should’ve said »it’s not good» meaning it’s bad (generally). So now why doesn’t he say like that?
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#8
Hello, AliBadass.
«No good» in this context means both «it would be pointless» and «this is not a good idea».
The strong implication is that if Pope (the warden of the prison) is «real interested» it cannot bode well.
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#9
is «real interested» it cannot bode well.
Thank you. What do you mean by it? Would you mind rephrasing that?
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#10
If something is is not good it HAS value but is of poor quality.
How could it be possible?
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#11
If something is is not good it HAS value but is of poor quality.
How could it be possible?
Food, for example, can be «not good» even though it is still fresh, edible, etc.
This milk is no good. (It has gone sour. It will make you sick.)
This milk is not good. (I don’t like this kind of milk, but I will drink it if there is no other kind available.)
«Not good» is between «good» and «bad».
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#12
Thank you. Can we say that’s because the cellmate doesn’t speak good English uses »no good»? Wouldn’t it be better if he said »not good» instead of »no good»?
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#13
Thank you. Can we say that’s because the cellmate doesn’t speak good English uses »no good»? Wouldn’t it be better if he said »not good» instead of »no good»?
It could be. I don’t really have enough context. This could be about something else. I know that you are reading a transcript so it could be a mistake by the transcriber. (Also, you’ve already started one thread because you didn’t see the «t» in «at» in the transcription. )
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#14
1. «Illegal drugs are no good.»
2. «Illegal drugs are not good.»
I think the first sentence means that illegal drugs are bad (low quality) and maybe non-illegal drugs are good (or at least better than illegal drugs).
It seems that the second sentence is incomplete and should be written something like «Illegal drugs are not good for your health».
Can you please tell them if I grasped the meaning of ‘no good’ and ‘not good’ correctly?
Possible Duplicate:
What is the difference between “no” and “not”?
there is a question always confusing me. Is it ‘no good’ or ‘not good’? How do I use them? I guess they are different, but I never know what is the difference! Thank you in advance!
asked Apr 17, 2012 at 2:36
2
From OED (good):
colloq. to be any, some, no good: to be any, some, no use. Also of persons, to be no good = ‘to be a bad lot’, to be worthless. Also of things a bit of no good, quite a lot of harm.
No good functions as both an attributive adjective (e.g., a no-good dirty dog) and noun (e.g., what a no good)
On the other hand, saying that something is not good is just indicating that the adjective ‘good’ does not apply to it. In many instances, no good and not good can both be used. No good is certainly the more informal alternative.
answered Apr 17, 2012 at 3:53
J D OConalJ D OConal
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The only difference I can immediately think of is:
‘No good’ implies doing something, so an idea is ‘no good’, a lamp is ‘no good’ if it doesn’t light and software is ‘no good’ if it doesn’t work.
‘Not good’ seems more of a property of the substance, so milk that has gone bad is ‘not good’
answered Apr 17, 2012 at 3:31
mgbmgb
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