Worse or inferior — the comparative form of 'bad/little' used in contexts of spiritual and moral deterioration.
The Greek hēttōn (also hēsson) is the comparative adjective meaning 'worse' or 'less.' It appears in 1 Corinthians 11:17 where Paul says the Corinthian assembly has come together 'not for the better but for the worse (hēsson)' — referring to their divisive Lord's Supper practices. It also appears in 2 Peter 2:20: 'If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off (ta eschata cheirona tōn prōtōn) at the end than they were at the beginning.'
Paul's use of hēttōn in 1 Corinthians 11:17 is a stinging indictment: the church's gatherings were making things worse rather than better. The Lord's Supper — the apex expression of Christ's self-giving community — had become a venue for class division, hunger for the poor, and drunkenness for the rich. When Christian practices reinforce worldly divisions rather than gospel equality, they become spiritually regressive. This is the anti-Gospel: a church that meets and deteriorates. The remedy Paul prescribes is discernment — recognizing the body of Christ in one another (1 Corinthians 11:29).