Joy, from India, asked: What is the meaning of “or worse," and how is this expression used in American English?
Answer
Let's start with the word worse, which is the opposite of better. Worse means "less good," that is, a) lower in quality, b) less pleasant, attractive, effective, useful, etc., or c) more serious or severe.
The expression "or worse" is used to suggest that there is another possible result that is even "less good" (or "more bad") than the bad result already mentioned. For example, in this sentence:
Tomas is scared that they are going to laugh at him, or worse, beat him up.
Tomas is scared that they are going to laugh at him, or do something even more painful - beat him up.
And in this sentence:
The judge threatened the thief with a large fine, or worse, if he wouldn’t cooperate.
the judge told the thief that if he didn’t cooperate, he would have to pay a large amount of money, or receive an even worse punishment, such as being sent to prison.
Here are two additional example sentences with “or worse.”
Many of the buildings suffered heavy damage, or worse, from the earthquake.
