believed really bad

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "believed really bad" is not correct in standard written English.
It may be intended to express a strong negative belief, but it lacks proper grammatical structure. Example: "He believed really bad about the outcome of the project, which affected his motivation."

⚠ May contain grammatical issues

News & Media

Science

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

1 human-written examples

The Baum character -- in real life he lost a child and his wife said from that moment he actually believed really bad things can happen.

Huffington Post

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

58 human-written examples

"Because we all — we don't want to believe the really bad things about people.

The New Yorker

"I'm always interested in good and evil, who's a good person, who's a bad person, believing, really, that we're all rather gray".

The New York Times - Arts

On a student's budget, meals consisted of sausages filled with highly questionable grains, soggy-crusted pub grub served at room temperature, runny custards poured over all sweet "puddings" and something called a Wimpy, which was, if you can believe it, a really bad rival of a McDonald's burger.

The New York Times - Magazine

In Denver, where Mr. Zazi had been under scrutiny with several other suspects, the agent who oversees the F.B.I. field office said he believed that investigators "disrupted something really bad," but did so before agents fully understood the scope of plot and how it was likely to unfold.

The New York Times

What if he just begged everyone to believe that things were really, really bad?The White House could try to convince markets that the administration has absolutely no way to prevent a default in the event that Congress doesn't get its act together and raise the debt ceiling.

The Economist

It is 'internal' in orientation rather than 'external' (see the inventory of relations in Figure 9 above); that is, it serves to link a satellite text segment to the nucleus that is likely to increase the success of the speech function of the nucleus — in this case, the likelihood that the reader will believe that the printer is really bad.

Functional Linguistics

They still believe debt is a really, really bad thing, with or without Reinhart and Rogoff's numbers.

Huffington Post

"I have to suffer now as I believe the referee's had a really bad game and it's probably cost us something from the game.

BBC

"I'm really bad at sports, believe it or not.

Huffington Post

"I believe in karma," Ms. Clark said, "and that would have been some really bad karma.

The New York Times - Health

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Avoid using the phrase "believed really bad" in formal writing. Opt for grammatically correct alternatives like "believed it was very bad" or "thought it was terrible" for clearer communication.

Common error

The adverb "really" should typically modify an adjective. With "bad", it is more common and grammatically sound to say "really bad" instead of trying to place "really" directly after "believed".

Linguistic Context

The phrase "believed really bad" functions as a description of someone's conviction. As Ludwig AI points out, the grammar is not standard; it attempts to express a strong, negative belief. The single exact example from Ludwig shows this usage within a personal narrative context.

Expression frequency: Common

Frequent in

News & Media

50%

Science

50%

Formal & Business

0%

Less common in

Academia

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, while the phrase "believed really bad" is used to convey a strong negative belief, it's grammatically incorrect and not recommended for formal writing. Ludwig AI highlights that it appears mostly in informal contexts or direct quotes within news and media. For clearer communication, consider using alternatives like "believed it was very bad" or "thought it was terrible". Though it appears in various sources, remember to prioritize grammatical correctness for effective communication.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

Believed it was very bad

Adds emphasis using "very" instead of "really" and rephrases for grammatical correctness.

Strongly believed it was bad

Emphasizes the strength of the belief and corrects the grammatical structure.

Thought it was terrible

Replaces "really bad" with a more direct adjective expressing strong negativity.

Considered it awful

Uses "awful" as a stronger, more direct replacement for "really bad".

Was convinced it was bad

Shifts from belief to conviction, implying a firm negative assessment.

Believed it to be a disaster

Replaces the general negativity with the specific term "disaster" to amplify the belief.

Thought it was extremely negative

Replaces the phrase with a more formal assessment of negativity.

Believed the situation was dire

Uses "dire" to convey a sense of urgency and severe negativity.

Believed something terrible would happen

Focuses on anticipating a negative outcome rather than simply assessing a current state.

Was of the opinion that it was flawed

Presents a formal assessment using "flawed" to denote a significant negative aspect.

FAQs

How can I rephrase "believed really bad" to sound more grammatically correct?

You can use alternatives like "believed it was very bad", "thought it was terrible", or "considered it awful" depending on the context.

Is "believed really bad" grammatically correct?

No, "believed really bad" is not grammatically correct in standard English. It's better to say "believed it was really bad" or use a stronger adjective.

What's a more formal way to express the idea of "believed really bad"?

For a more formal tone, you could say "was convinced it was bad" or "thought it was extremely negative".

What does it mean when someone says they "believed really bad"?

It typically implies that someone held a strong negative belief about something, although the phrasing is grammatically incorrect. A better way to say it would be "believed something terrible would happen".