unfavorably; disparagingly; in a bad light
Used when speaking or writing about someone or something in a negative, critical, or insulting way. Often paired with verbs like 言う, 書く, 評する.
He always speaks ill of others.
The newspaper wrote about the incident in a disparaging way.
Standard kanji-kana mixed spelling.
Variant with ざま in kana; less common but seen.
From 悪し (archaic form of 悪い, 'bad') + 様 (ざま, 'manner') + に (adverbial particle). The phrase literally means 'in a bad manner'.