Worst-case means assuming that everything that can go wrong does. The gloomiest version of the future, planned for on purpose.
It goes before a noun, and worst-case scenario is very nearly the only phrase it appears in. Planning for one is a genuine discipline in engineering, finance and emergency response, since a system designed for the average day fails on the bad one. The phrase has spread into ordinary speech, where it is often used to talk somebody down from their fears rather than to plan.
1adjectiveworst-caseAssuming the least favourable possible outcome.
“The worst-case scenario is that nobody turns up at all.”
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 24 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word