And the pain of a rejection could be worse than the pleasure of approval.
What could be worse than the Fed's flattening the yield curve and stoking 1970s-style inflation?
"Nothing could be worse than this torment, and I cannot rid myself of it, " Clinton wrote.
The callousness this time could be worse than the bet against shaky mortgage portfolios.
Carter argued that a move to unseat Boehner could be worse for the party.
The main hope for compromise is that rupture could be worse for both sides.
Looking next door to Liberia or Sierra Leone, they see that life could be worse.
Other options than the Keystone XL pipeline could be worse for climate change, the state department said.
If productivity growth slows from its pace of the past few years, the results could be worse still.
Nothing could be worse in the battle for Muslim "hearts and minds" than to betray our most natural allies.
But for Latin Americans and for those who want to do business with them the consequences could be worse.
Are you encouraged by what you've seen today, it sounded, from Richard Wells, as though it could be worse?
If people live longer than the actuaries expect the shortfall could be worse.
If policy makers opted for significant immediate spending cuts or broad-based tax increases, the result could be worse than the cliff.
FORBES: We Don't Need Another Short-Term Patch for our Fiscal Woes
Yet after seeing Tokyo and London burn and the inhabitants turned into zombies, it is hard to imagine what could be worse.
And so, although starvation and inflation may not be a problem, the looming crisis of unemployment in the countryside could be worse than expected.
ECONOMIST: Large parts of China are suffering a winter drought
Still, it could be worse: Mr Grasso's last prominent directorship was at Computer Associates, a company plagued by dubious accounting and mismanaged stock options.
What could be worse, they ask, than more Russian strategic warheads?
And it could be worse for the Big Ten: Imagine if the two conferences hadn't backtracked on a planned long-term agreement to play nonconference games against one another.
All that said, things could be worse in New Orleans.
ECONOMIST: New Orleans is recovering its energy, but not its people
"Obviously, it could be worse if she was given the death penalty, but it wouldn't have been that much worse, " her husband, Russell Yates, told reporters after the decision.
Isabella Sankey of Liberty, a pressure group, fears the CPI could be worse than the ASBO, as the standard of proof will be lower and the test of anti-social behaviour broader.
ECONOMIST: Some new tools for fighting yobs, and fresh questions
And while investors who bought into the market before the financial crisis may not be as thrilled as Johnny-come-lately stock buyers of 2009 or 2010, we all know things could be worse.
The downturn has led to millions of dollars in losses - and there are predictions that the damage to the industry could be worse than that resulting from the Gulf War 10 years ago.
应用推荐