Definitions

lousy

[lou-zee] / ˈlaʊ zi /

ADJECTIVE

very bad

Synonyms

STRONGEST

awful horrible miserable poor rotten second-rate shoddy terrible

WEAK

base contemptible despicable dirty disliked execrable faulty harmful hateful inferior low mean no good outrageous slovenly unpopular unwelcome vicious vile

Antonyms

STRONGEST

good great happy nice pleasant rich superior wealthy

WEAK

magnificent wonderful

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It was one of those lousy late-fall New York evenings, cold and dark and sort of half raining and half sleeting.

From Slate • Mar. 29, 2026

Those issues make the sector a pretty lousy place to look for relatively safe income.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

It's not impossible that Spurs scramble a win here because Arne Slot's side were lousy in Turkey on Tuesday.

From BBC • Mar. 12, 2026

An erupting volcano in Indonesia led to lousy weather in Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

Dorus himself would have admitted to a different fault: he was a lousy speaker.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman