bad actor
noun
plural bad actors
: a person, group, country, etc. who purposely and usually repeatedly engages in very bad behavior (such as committing crimes or causing harm to others)
Giving users a way to prove that they're being harassed with, say, a screenshot or some other form of authentication could help Twitter catch bad actors, even after they've covered their tracks.—
Issie Lapowsky
Issie LapowskyA perennial diplomatic bad actor, North Korea has already rattled its sabers at the opening of the Obama administration.—Alex Kingsbury
Alex Kingsbury"We've got to break away from the notion," as the U.A.W.'s [United Auto Workers] director of public relations, Peter G. Laarman, puts it, "that labor is a 'bad actor' in the economy. …"—Harry Stein
Harry Stein
also
: something that causes trouble, danger, or a problem
The bad actor in male pattern hair loss is DHT, a metabolic product of testosterone. —Jane E. Brody
Jane E. Brody We have special ducts throughout the vapor bath that carry away all the toxic bad actors. —PC Today
PC Today Examples of bad actor in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Credit card numbers may change every five years, so a bad actor getting access to a list of client credit cards in a decade isn’t as important as getting access to, say, checking and savings account numbers and associated addresses.
—Scott Buchholz, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025
Between the lines: This logic implies that any country with which the United States experiences a trade deficit, regardless of the reason, is in some way a bad actor and requires tariffs as payback.
—Neil Irwin, Axios, 3 Apr. 2025
The adoption of artificial intelligence by bad actors only compounds the issue.
—Paulina Likos, CNBC, 1 Apr. 2025
Advocates worry the lack of transparency will allow bad actors to continue running care facilities and putting elderly, disabled and ailing residents at risk.
—Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2025
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Scott Buchholz, Forbes.com, 9 Apr. 2025
Between the lines: This logic implies that any country with which the United States experiences a trade deficit, regardless of the reason, is in some way a bad actor and requires tariffs as payback.
—Neil Irwin, Axios, 3 Apr. 2025
The adoption of artificial intelligence by bad actors only compounds the issue.
—Paulina Likos, CNBC, 1 Apr. 2025
Advocates worry the lack of transparency will allow bad actors to continue running care facilities and putting elderly, disabled and ailing residents at risk.
—Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bad actor
Cite this Entry
“Bad actor.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bad%20actor. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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