bad faith
"bad-faith" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bad faith” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The misrepresentation of one's own true motive.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bad-faith · bad faith · English
bad faith · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bad faith |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bad faith” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bad faith is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
bad faith doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: * (philosophy): a semantic loan from French mauvaise foi, coined by existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. The correct English form is bad faith, spelled B-A-D- -F-A-I-T-H.
Definition
- 1The misrepresentation of one's own true motive.
- 2An intent to deceive or mislead another to gain some advantage; dishonesty or fraud in a transaction (such as knowingly misrepresenting the quality of something that is being bought or sold).
- 3A malicious motive by a party in a lawsuit, which has an effect on the ability to maintain causes of action and obtain legal remedies.
- 4The existentialist concept of denying one's total freedom of will.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bad faith appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonyms: dishonesty, insincerity, bloody-mindedness
bad-faith interpretation
Etymology
* (philosophy): a semantic loan from French mauvaise foi, coined by existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.