student asking question

What is the difference between "It's not bad" and "It's not that bad"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"It's not that bad" as in informal expression used to encourage or reassure someone that something will be better than expected, or to downplay a situation. You can understand it as "it won't/isn't as bad as you think." It is different from "It's not bad," which does not mean the same thing. Ex: Your haircut isn't great but it's not that bad! (Your haircut isn't great, but it's not as bad as you think!) Ex: A: Is the haunted house scary? B: It's not that bad.

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