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
Anthropic fears that powerful AI models like Mythos could allow bad actors to use AI systems to commit crimes, from launching crippling cyberattacks against critical infrastructure to designing bioweapons that could kill masses of people.
—Jared Perlo, NBC news, 11 June 2026
Any bad actor can digitally replicate a logo or an entire website, Hish said.
—Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026
Of course, sometimes there are also watermarks, but bad actors find ways to remove them.
—Christian Perry, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
While most of those visitors are coming with good intentions, there’s always the possibility that bad actors will take advantage of the crowds and commotion to cause damage and inflict harm.
—Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for bad actor
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Jared Perlo, NBC news, 11 June 2026
Any bad actor can digitally replicate a logo or an entire website, Hish said.
—Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026
Of course, sometimes there are also watermarks, but bad actors find ways to remove them.
—Christian Perry, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
While most of those visitors are coming with good intentions, there’s always the possibility that bad actors will take advantage of the crowds and commotion to cause damage and inflict harm.
—Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 June 2026
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 22 Jun. 2026.
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