From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishnot too/so badnot too/so badspoken used to say that something is not as bad as expected The exams weren’t so bad. → bad
Examples from the Corpus
not too/so bad• The roads weren't too bad.• At first, things were not so bad.• Compared to how I feel, how I look is not so bad.• She began to think that perhaps village life was not so bad.• The Ky is not too bad.• The policing here is not so bad.• The weather was not too bad.• We played really well and while the other contenders still had to play each other, our run-in was not too bad.• The Vatican, I must say, is not too bad when it is full and the resonance is reduced. 