feel-bad, a.
Brit. /ˈfiːlbad/, U.S. /ˈfilˌbæd/
[‹ to feel bad at bad adj. 11 after feel-good adj.]
That induces a feeling of unhappiness or discontentment; characterized by such a feeling; gloomy, pessimistic, down-beat. Cf. feel-good adj.
Freq. in political or economic contexts.
| 1986 Atlantic Feb. 16/1 Do you have the impression, as I have, that the advent of the ‘feelgood’ evening news program..has coincided somehow with the emergence of a ‘feelbad’ school of weather reporting? 1994 Independent on Sunday 18 Dec. 15/1 Another feel-bad week in a feel-bad year: no boomy thing at all. 1996 ikon Jan.–Feb. 47/1 A doom-laden masterpiece sucker-punching movie-goers with that gloriously bleak feel-bad ending. 2004 P. Biskind Down & Dirty Pictures ix. 298 In an era of feel-good, over-the-rainbow uplift..and smiley faces..Solondz makes feel-bad films. |
Special uses. feel-bad factor n. chiefly Brit. Polit. a prevailing feeling of unease, pessimism, and (esp. financial) insecurity, viewed as a factor in decreasing consumer spending and creating dissatisfaction with the government in power; the presence or inducement of a feeling of unease or unhappiness; cf. feel-good factor n. at feel-good n. and adj. Additions
| 1991 Independent 23 Aug. 1/3, 41 per cent of electors say their households have become worse off during the past 12 months... The *feel-bad factor is greatest in the South. 1996 Minx Nov. 88/4 The class acting and top script (worth putting up with the constant feel-bad factor for). 2005 Evening Standard (Nexis) 13 May a44 This is what I would dub the feelbad factor—for all those people spending the equity on their properties suddenly the world looks a more dangerous place. |