Bad vs Evil
Bad is a very common word in English language that is an adjective and implies something that is not good at all. Poor quality is also expressed as bad quality, and low marks obtained by students are also referred to as bad grades or poor grades. There is another word evil that is used commonly and sometimes in place of bad as an adjective. For non-natives, differentiating between bad and evil becomes difficult though they know that evil is necessarily bad as evil is associated with death and disease. Let us take a closer look at the two concepts.
Bad
Bad is the antonym of good and reflects poor or inferior quality of things in our lives. We talk about bad or poor quality of products. You can have a bad egg, bad paper, or even bad attitude. Bad is also used for something that is inaccurate or incorrect. Thus, we are guilty of making a bad guess at a quiz or a fielder may be accused of bad attempt at taking a catch in the field. In general, anything that is not good is deemed as bad and thus we have bad behavior though usually we do not speak of behavior in such terms.
Bad is a quality that lies on a continuum and anything can thus be more or less bad just as we have worse and worst. Thus, we talk about bad health of a patient suffering from a disease. People expect only good things in their lives whereas they should be ready to take the bad with the good. This is the reason why there are always the good and the bad in the lives of all of us and there is always bad where there is good. No person is all good just as no person is totally bad. There are shades of bad just as there is goodness in a person.
Evil
Evil is a word that connotes immorality but is first and foremost a concept that is associated with good in the same manner as bad is associated with good. All religions talk about the good and the evil as being two forces that dominate our lives. Every religion has sacred as well as profane just as there are good forces as well as evil forces. Thus, evil is a concept that connotes wickedness, immorality, cunningness, sickness, death, injury, and disease. Someone having a selfish attitude that results in pain and suffering for others is referred to as evil attitude. In today’s world, terrorism and insurgency are equated with evil though every act of crime or violence is evil in nature. Something that is amoral in a society is believed to be evil.
What is the difference between Bad and Evil?
• Something that is evil in nature is not good and, therefore, it is always bad.
• However, not everything bad is necessarily evil in nature.
• Evil is more wicked or immoral in nature whereas poor or inferior quality is bad.
• Something causing destruction or violence or in general any crime is evil in nature whereas bad is anything that is not good or not high quality.
• Evil is anti religion and profane in nature whereas, not everything bad is evil.