Definition of ill in English:

ill

adjective ɪlɪl

1Suffering from an illness or disease or feeling unwell.
he was taken ill with food poisoning
with submodifier a terminally ill patient
even the seriously ill cannot get tests done immediately
Example sentencesExamples
- He said it was reasonable to believe the water had not been contaminated before the period in question because no-one prior to that period had taken ill.
- As soon as John had taken ill, she had written to him.
- Everything's just fine now, he reassured them, except that the design isn't finished and the architect is mysteriously taken ill.
- She was very ill and bore her suffering with great dignity.
- Around one in ten people who are infected with amoebiasis become ill from the disease.
- There is no requirement that the suffering be physical or that the patient be terminally ill.
- Perhaps you are living with someone who is ill with a life-threatening disease.
- Leaders of our medical organisations should not allow informed consent to interfere with clinical management of infectious disease or seriously ill patients.
- On the occasion his mother had taken ill and he was trying to get assistance for her.
- One came to the aid of an elderly man taken ill at a bus stop.
- She had taken ill long ago, only a few years after they had married.
- Terminally ill patients slowly become worse as the disease takes over their body until it kills them.
- Along with morphine, it was prescribed to chronically ill patients suffering everything from asthma to diarrhoea.
- Siti said that volunteers should also understand that terminally ill patients usually suffer from psychological strain due to their illness.
- Two other patients are critically ill after contracting the disease through infected organs from the donor.
- Infectious complications in critically ill patients can cause increased morbidity and mortality.
- Some years ago I was called to attend a man I did not know who had taken ill very suddenly.
- A woman terminally ill with motor neurone disease will next week begin a High Court battle to win the right to die, it was announced yesterday.
- The major reason for the redesign of services is to ensure the best possible care for critically ill patients as well as those with less serious illness and injuries.
- Haemophiliacs are ill and are suffering and time is not on our side.
Synonyms
unwell, sick, not (very) well, ailing, poorly, sickly, peaky, afflicted, indisposed, infirm, liverish
out of sorts, not oneself, not in good shape, not up to par, under/below par, bad, in a bad way
bedridden, invalided, on the sick list, valetudinarian
queasy, nauseous, nauseated
weak, feeble, frail
diseased, infected
British off colour
informal under the weather, not up to snuff, laid up, dicky, funny, peculiar, iffy, crummy, lousy, rough, groggy, green about the gills, at death's door, like death warmed up
British informal ropy, grotty
Scottish informal wabbit
Australian/New Zealand informal crook
vulgar slang crappy
dated queer, seedy
2attributive Poor in quality.
ill judgement dogs the unsuccessful
Example sentencesExamples
- Is their any provision to ban an umpire for his attitude problems and making of ill decisions?
- It was because of her ill judgment.
Synonyms
bad, poor, unsatisfactory, incompetent, unacceptable, inadequate, deficient, defective, faulty, unskilful, inexpert, amateurish
1. 2.1 Bad or harmful.
  she had a cup of the same wine and suffered no ill effects
  Example sentencesExamples
  However, the average life of an Indian was 62 as the ill effects of cancer were visible only at a later stage in life.
  The ill effects of that ad campaign still lingers on and won't be eradicated in the short term.
  And that's part of trying to educate people about drugs and warn them about the ill effects of drugs.
  For most otherwise healthy people the virus, while debilitating in the short term, leaves no lasting ill effects.
  But care need to be taken to reduce the ill effects of computers as far as possible.
  Some of the exhibits clearly illustrated the ill effects of pollution on public health.
  The ill effects included foetal hypoxia and death, neo-natal jaundice and several such complications.
  But Mr Briggs said safeguards would be put in place to control the ill effects of gambling.
  The new government will be pressed to reconcile religious conflicts and work out a policy that is considerate of the poor and mitigates the ill effects of economic growth.
  Getting out to an exercise class is a good way of releasing stress and reducing the ill effects of it.
  What is highly disputed, however, is the dose of radiation that will result in ill effects.
  By far the most serious ill effect of the sun is skin cancer.
  Teenagers would be made aware of the ill effects of smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse.
  I have always known the ill effects of smoking but did not know how harmful it could be.
  But as time went on you couldn't help noticing the ill effects.
  Compared to the convenience of the tool, the ill effect of spam is very serious.
  And the cats both survived the stay in the cattery without too many ill effects.
  The wife admitted that she and her husband had frequently had potted meat from the shop without ill effects.
  To the normal ill effects of heavy summer rainfall is added direct physical damage to the vines and fruit.
  Therefore, if we are foolhardy enough to tax the desirable voluntary activities of individuals and firms, we should expect the ill effects to be numerous and serious.
  Synonyms
  harmful, damaging, detrimental, deleterious, adverse, injurious, hurtful, destructive, pernicious, inimical, dangerous, ruinous, calamitous, disastrous, malign, malignant
  unhealthy, unwholesome, poisonous, noxious, cancerous
  literary malefic, maleficent, nocuous, baneful
2. 2.2 Not favourable or auspicious.
  I have had a run of ill luck
  a bird of ill omen
  Example sentencesExamples
  Drug rehab, ill fortune or the vagaries of life may have some part to play in this, but spurts of activity have at least resulted in a handful of albums that bask in the glow that only rarity can bestow.
  Since the earliest times, man has gazed skyward, hoping to discern signs of good or ill fortune in the patterns of the stars.
  More than 50 years of constant US intervention have led to a plethora of ill fortune in the region.
  Typical of their ill luck was a penalty, awarded for a foot block on Knight, but which was blasted narrowly wide by Ward, who was having such an outstanding game.
  This clearly implies, my correspondent asserts, that there is only one wheelchair available for use for every five passengers who have had the ill luck to be stood on.
  For his ill fortune alone, defeat was unthinkable.
  During that journey, we once again encounter an ill omen in nature: in this instance, a turtle trapped on its back beneath a big rock.
  We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.
  As explained elsewhere, the trip to Brisbane, or more precisely the trip back, was a journey of ill omen for young Les as it threw him into the close company of Tim O'Sullivan.
  We have posted every published story regarding the riot because we thought that in many respects it was an omen of ill tidings for Minneapolis.
  The symbol is formed from the shape of a cross, with the arms bent to the right symbolising health and life, or to the left, which came to symbolise ill fortune.
  Maguire missed four of the last Cheltenham Festivals due to ill fortune.
  They usually employed various psychological techniques to cope with and often even thrive upon any ill fortune that came their way.
  While Cleary was one of the great scrum-halves of his generation, ill fortune declared he never got to pull on the green jersey in a full international.
  Cursing their ill luck, the ad men are spending extra money to remove these posters to make the hoardings visible.
  Naturally, Gurley was disappointed but rather than brood over his ill luck he decided to refocus on qualifying himself academically.
  Is this an ill omen, I wonder, or some kind of inner-city voodoo ritual?
  To cap Flanagan's misfortune, he punctured with 15 miles to go and there was an immediate charge from the front of his bunch, capitalising on his ill luck.
  Sheba had a double dose of ill fortune in her short life.
  We had planned a trip to Bangalore but as ill luck would have it, one of my internal exams has now been scheduled right in the middle of the little break I was banking on.
  Synonyms
  unlucky, adverse, unfavourable, unfortunate, unpropitious, inauspicious, unpromising, infelicitous, bad, gloomy
  threatening, menacing, ominous, sinister, disturbing, dire, evil, baleful, forbidding, portentous
  archaic direful
  rare minatory, minacious

adverb ɪlɪl

1usually in combination Badly, wrongly, or imperfectly.
the street is dominated by ill-lit shops
it ill becomes one so beautiful to be gloomy
Example sentencesExamples
- I suspect that it was imported to Korea within the last 600 years as Korea's climate is ill suited for the Mugunghwa, which thrives in the tropics.
- It seemed as if people were competing with each other for an imaginary prize for being the most rowdy and ill mannered human being in that room.
- This question is rather abstract, but it serves to demonstrate how ill defined ‘harmful to minors’ may be.
- The Russians' military is very weak, very poor, very ill trained.
- The big worry is that the cash-strapped Irish health service is ill equipped to deal with an epidemic of any form, least of all a potentially fatal virus like SARS.
- There will be those who will claim that that this first failure shows that they are ill suited to running club nights.
- Would you risk the future success of your business on a bottle of homemade possibly ill tasting wine or would you have bottles of quality wine on hand to serve to your guests?
- His disastrous management of the 1993 federal election showed that he was hopelessly out of his depth and totally ill equipped for the task.
- So, if this ill informed, ill educated, condemned criminal gets the happy ending of life eternal with God, may we not also have similar expectations?
- It found itself subjected to harsh rain it was ill equipped for, dissolving the sandstone facades of it's buildings slowly, even as the people chose not to lift their eyes and notice it.
- Kiribati was ill prepared for democracy by the British colonial regime, which mainly used people from Tuvalu as administrators.
- Moreover, it is ill prepared to deal with any possible use of weapons.
- If he finds himself similarly ill informed on other issues, he is welcome to write to me and I will try to keep him up to date if he and the local Conservatives can't manage this themselves.
- I must be that inexplicably angry, obtuse, ill mannered, audacious, pompous blow-hard that writes insulting letters to The Peak!
- The Bosnian government was ill prepared to defend the country with no army and only a poorly equipped territorial defense force.
Synonyms
poorly, badly, imperfectly
wrongly, unsuccessfully
badly, adversely, unsuccessfully, unfavourably
unfortunately, unluckily, hard, inauspiciously
inadequately, unsatisfactorily, insufficiently, imperfectly, deficiently, defectively, poorly, badly, negligently
1. 1.1 Unfavourably or inauspiciously.
  a look on her face which boded ill for anyone who crossed her path
  Example sentencesExamples
  I just watched ten minutes of speculation on whether a long deliberation bodes well or ill for the defense.
  Synonyms
  unfavourably, adversely, badly, unhappily, inauspiciously
2Only with difficulty; hardly.
she could ill afford the cost of new curtains
Example sentencesExamples
- This loss of time could be ill afforded at a time when the technical preparations for Mike were at a critical stage.
- Gee's Bend was a very poor community that could ill afford luxuries like store-bought blankets and bed coverings.
- He stressed that some of the goods produced locally lacked quality and were produced at a comparatively higher cost making such goods ill equipped to compete on the regional market.
- Culpeper's deepest desire was to make herbal medicine available to everyone, especially the poor who could ill afford to visit a physician.
- Poor families can ill afford more than a few rupees.
Synonyms
barely, scarcely, hardly, just, only just, just possibly, narrowly
with difficulty, only with effort
British informal at a push

noun ɪlɪl

usually ills

1A problem or misfortune.
a lengthy work on the ills of society
Example sentencesExamples
- It has become an accepted part of our daily lives, like so many of the ills that plague our society.
- The voters have to be sick of partisan wrangling and worried about unsolved national ills.
- Mr Osborne repeats the myth that society's ills can be blamed on refugees.
- You don't hear people talking about any other part that the markets will take care of it, that free trade is the panacea for every ill.
- Like so many ills of today's society, the cult of bigness has American origin.
- The 1960s and 70s counterculture gets blamed for every current social ill by conservatives.
- A humming economy, after all, fixes most if not all other ills in a society.
- Of all the social ills and problems plaguing Bihar, sati was never on the list.
- Despite good intentions, psychiatrists can become complicit in shaping social ills.
- Injunctions against discrimination require that efficacious treatment for a human ill must be made equally accessible to everyone.
- Once we have that hope, it can be used to work against the ills in society, the negativity.
- A certain social ill might suddenly get a burst of national publicity because editors at The New York Times decided to make it a page-one news feature.
- One of the ills of our society in the recent past was the polarisation of black and white.
- So Bren naturally blames Ian for any ill that may happen.
- And when Sha-King talks, he sounds as if he's reciting every imaginable ill in urban America.
- Instead of seeing violence as a social ill, it excites and entertains us.
- As tempting as it is to demonise computer games for society's ills, the evidence does not suggest such a simple link.
- While this Amendment was not intended to redress every social ill, its legitimate purposes certainly extend to the protection of unborn persons.
- After all, who in their right minds would imagine that theatre is responsible for the ills of society?
- Both of them believe that society's ills can be fixed by putting the right man at the top to make laws and crack down on the wrong people.
Synonyms
problems, troubles, difficulties, misfortunes, strains, trials, tribulations, trials and tribulations, worries, anxieties, concerns
pain, suffering, hardship, misery, woe, affliction, distress, disquiet, malaise
informal headaches, probs, hassles
archaic travails
illnesses, ill/poor health
ailments, disorders, complaints, afflictions, sicknesses, diseases, maladies, infirmities, indispositions
infections, contagions
1. 1.1mass noun Evil or harm.
  how could I wish him ill?
  Example sentencesExamples
  I wish her no ill at this stage in the competition.
  It is important to remember, however, that not all hatred is wishing another ill for its own sake.
  I don't wish the bloke any ill but me and a few others wouldn't be among those in the gallery clapping our hands.
  In short, I wish Mr Akam no ill, but hope this acts as a piece of constructive criticism.
  If that's for good or ill can't be judged, because the only vestiges we get of that more satirical version are a few extended scenes among the extras.
  I wished the senator no ill but if he didn't want people to hold this against him, he should at some point have declared that it was wrong.
  So, I wish them no ill, but I think they should be stripped of their titles and that their immense wealth could be put to better use for the good of everyone.
  We didn't wish the fox ill, but his determination to steal our hens didn't make him a friend of the family either.
  Yes, you have to - there's a kind of linguistic hygiene, like ethnic cleansing in a way, which works for ill and also for good.
  I want to state that I do not wish ill upon any person, and this is in fact another part of the problem.
  Even though she married the wrong guy I wish her no ill at all.
  For ill or for good, the applications are endless!
  How do you tell such a person that you mean him no ill?
  It is not in Justin Wilson's nature to wish ill of a rival - he is far too nice for that.
  Those wishing further ill may hope that a Sox loss will preserve the Fragile Equilibrium of Unhappiness that Boston fans know all too well.
  I don't want to speak for anyone else, but people here generally are Democrats and wish political ill on the Republicans.
  It can control the country's borders, and it can keep out or throw out those who wish our nation ill.
  I wish Karen no ill, of course, and intend no mockery.
  Emilia's eagerness to divulge her husband's guilt thus illustrates her revenge, her returning ill upon the man who has abused her.
  Tris, you made a few good points about Gourmet Station Blog, which I, for good or ill named as this week's winner of ‘The Beyond Lame Award’.
  Synonyms
  harm, hurt, injury, damage, mischief, pain, trouble, unpleasantness, misfortune, grievance, suffering, distress, anguish, trauma, grief

Phrases

ill at ease

Uncomfortable or embarrassed.
Example sentencesExamples
- She feels awkward, ill at ease, and even intruded upon.
- Any white person expressing such ideas is obviously a buttoned up racist, ill at ease with the realities of multicultural Britain and its vibrant black youth culture.
- She had become very uncomfortable and ill at ease when visiting her parents and suffered chronic tension.
- I just shifted in my seat, feeling very nervous, and ill at ease.
- Worse than that, everybody felt ill at ease and unsure how to behave in front of the former enemy.
- It made him uncomfortable and ill at ease, and he felt she was trying to keep him there in the pilothouse.
- Why did he seem so ill at ease, so uncomfortable with the role he had to play?
- Russians, for historical reasons, can be acutely ill at ease with the idea of expounding uncomfortable truths in a formal setting.
- The world depicted is a fascinating one, and we gaze upon it with rapt attention, even as the disquieting mood of the film keeps us ill at ease.
- She sits isolated, straining at the boundaries of the picture, thoroughly ill at ease with her space.
Synonyms
awkward, uneasy, uncomfortable, self-conscious, out of place, unnatural, inhibited, gauche, strained

speak (or think) ill of

Say (or think) something critical about (someone).
Example sentencesExamples
- Every one who was looking my way had to be thinking ill of me.
- Unless one thinks ill of the woman he married, one can hardly regard this as ‘earned.’
- Nobody thinks ill of the many long-distance runners who simply did not have the bottle to finish in Athens.
- Inherited distrust or whatnot of Christianity does not mean that Jews dislike Christians, or think ill of them, or even want them to stop practicing Christianity.
- Brown is unusual in contemporary poetry for her willingness to be thought ill of.
- He was a handsome man, too handsome to be thought ill of by anyone, his aloof attitude did only add attractions to his charm.
- Theirs is only a slightly more sophisticated reading than many other millennialists, who might know Le Monde from the Golden Calf but would think ill of both for speaking French.
- With all the scandals and bad publicity, it's no wonder that right thinking Americans tend to think ill of the beauty contest scene; but I realized in just one afternoon that pageants should be experienced before they are criticized.
- People from the pro-work culture would think ill of themselves for being ‘lazy’ so why should they not think ill of others who are ‘lazy’?
- He ‘feels bad’ about the torture, and he ‘feels bad’ that people think ill of America, and somehow that all evens things out.
Synonyms
denigrate, disparage, cast aspersions on, criticize, be critical of, speak badly of, speak of with disfavour, be unkind about, be malicious about, be spiteful towards, blacken the name of, blacken the character of, besmirch, run down, insult, abuse, attack, slight, revile, malign, vilify

Origin

Middle English (in the senses 'wicked', 'malevolent', 'harmful', and 'difficult'): from Old Norse illr 'evil, difficult', of unknown origin.

Ill is from Old Norse illr ‘evil’, and the commonest modern sense, ‘suffering from an illness or feeling unwell’, developed in the later medieval period. Before then a person would be sick, as they still are in the USA. The idea of harm and evil is prominent in many English proverbs, such as it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. This refers to the days of sailing ships. The wind might be blowing in the wrong direction for you, but it was sure to be blowing the right way for someone, somewhere—it would be a very bad or ‘ill’ wind that was of no help to anyone.

Rhymes

bill, Brazil, brill, Camille, chill, cookchill, dill, distil (US distill), downhill, drill, Edgehill, Estoril, fill, freewill, frill, fulfil (US fulfill), Gill, goodwill, grill, grille, hill, instil, kill, krill, mil, mill, nil, Phil, pill, quadrille, quill, rill, Seville, shill, shrill, sill, skill, spadille, spill, squill, still, stock-still, swill, thill, thrill, till, trill, twill, until, uphill, will

Definition of ill in US English:

ill

adjectiveilɪl

1Not in full health; sick.
her daughter is seriously ill
with submodifier a terminally ill patient
even the seriously ill cannot get tests done immediately
Example sentencesExamples
- The major reason for the redesign of services is to ensure the best possible care for critically ill patients as well as those with less serious illness and injuries.
- As soon as John had taken ill, she had written to him.
- Infectious complications in critically ill patients can cause increased morbidity and mortality.
- She was very ill and bore her suffering with great dignity.
- Perhaps you are living with someone who is ill with a life-threatening disease.
- Along with morphine, it was prescribed to chronically ill patients suffering everything from asthma to diarrhoea.
- One came to the aid of an elderly man taken ill at a bus stop.
- Haemophiliacs are ill and are suffering and time is not on our side.
- A woman terminally ill with motor neurone disease will next week begin a High Court battle to win the right to die, it was announced yesterday.
- Siti said that volunteers should also understand that terminally ill patients usually suffer from psychological strain due to their illness.
- He said it was reasonable to believe the water had not been contaminated before the period in question because no-one prior to that period had taken ill.
- Leaders of our medical organisations should not allow informed consent to interfere with clinical management of infectious disease or seriously ill patients.
- On the occasion his mother had taken ill and he was trying to get assistance for her.
- Two other patients are critically ill after contracting the disease through infected organs from the donor.
- Some years ago I was called to attend a man I did not know who had taken ill very suddenly.
- Terminally ill patients slowly become worse as the disease takes over their body until it kills them.
- There is no requirement that the suffering be physical or that the patient be terminally ill.
- She had taken ill long ago, only a few years after they had married.
- Everything's just fine now, he reassured them, except that the design isn't finished and the architect is mysteriously taken ill.
- Around one in ten people who are infected with amoebiasis become ill from the disease.
Synonyms
unwell, sick, not well, not very well, ailing, poorly, sickly, peaky, afflicted, indisposed, infirm, liverish
2attributive Poor in quality.
ill judgment dogs the unsuccessful
Example sentencesExamples
- Is their any provision to ban an umpire for his attitude problems and making of ill decisions?
- It was because of her ill judgment.
Synonyms
bad, poor, unsatisfactory, incompetent, unacceptable, inadequate, deficient, defective, faulty, unskilful, inexpert, amateurish
1. 2.1 Harmful.
  she had a cup of the same wine and suffered no ill effects
  Example sentencesExamples
  By far the most serious ill effect of the sun is skin cancer.
  The ill effects of that ad campaign still lingers on and won't be eradicated in the short term.
  The new government will be pressed to reconcile religious conflicts and work out a policy that is considerate of the poor and mitigates the ill effects of economic growth.
  What is highly disputed, however, is the dose of radiation that will result in ill effects.
  But care need to be taken to reduce the ill effects of computers as far as possible.
  Teenagers would be made aware of the ill effects of smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse.
  The wife admitted that she and her husband had frequently had potted meat from the shop without ill effects.
  I have always known the ill effects of smoking but did not know how harmful it could be.
  For most otherwise healthy people the virus, while debilitating in the short term, leaves no lasting ill effects.
  To the normal ill effects of heavy summer rainfall is added direct physical damage to the vines and fruit.
  But Mr Briggs said safeguards would be put in place to control the ill effects of gambling.
  Getting out to an exercise class is a good way of releasing stress and reducing the ill effects of it.
  However, the average life of an Indian was 62 as the ill effects of cancer were visible only at a later stage in life.
  And the cats both survived the stay in the cattery without too many ill effects.
  Some of the exhibits clearly illustrated the ill effects of pollution on public health.
  Therefore, if we are foolhardy enough to tax the desirable voluntary activities of individuals and firms, we should expect the ill effects to be numerous and serious.
  But as time went on you couldn't help noticing the ill effects.
  The ill effects included foetal hypoxia and death, neo-natal jaundice and several such complications.
  And that's part of trying to educate people about drugs and warn them about the ill effects of drugs.
  Compared to the convenience of the tool, the ill effect of spam is very serious.
  Synonyms
  harmful, damaging, detrimental, deleterious, adverse, injurious, hurtful, destructive, pernicious, inimical, dangerous, ruinous, calamitous, disastrous, malign, malignant
2. 2.2 Hostile.
  it did give rise to a lot of ill feelings
3. 2.3 (especially of fortune) not favorable.
  no one less deserved such ill fortune than McStay
  Example sentencesExamples
  Naturally, Gurley was disappointed but rather than brood over his ill luck he decided to refocus on qualifying himself academically.
  We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.
  For his ill fortune alone, defeat was unthinkable.
  Is this an ill omen, I wonder, or some kind of inner-city voodoo ritual?
  The symbol is formed from the shape of a cross, with the arms bent to the right symbolising health and life, or to the left, which came to symbolise ill fortune.
  While Cleary was one of the great scrum-halves of his generation, ill fortune declared he never got to pull on the green jersey in a full international.
  Since the earliest times, man has gazed skyward, hoping to discern signs of good or ill fortune in the patterns of the stars.
  More than 50 years of constant US intervention have led to a plethora of ill fortune in the region.
  Drug rehab, ill fortune or the vagaries of life may have some part to play in this, but spurts of activity have at least resulted in a handful of albums that bask in the glow that only rarity can bestow.
  Maguire missed four of the last Cheltenham Festivals due to ill fortune.
  Sheba had a double dose of ill fortune in her short life.
  They usually employed various psychological techniques to cope with and often even thrive upon any ill fortune that came their way.
  Cursing their ill luck, the ad men are spending extra money to remove these posters to make the hoardings visible.
  To cap Flanagan's misfortune, he punctured with 15 miles to go and there was an immediate charge from the front of his bunch, capitalising on his ill luck.
  We have posted every published story regarding the riot because we thought that in many respects it was an omen of ill tidings for Minneapolis.
  During that journey, we once again encounter an ill omen in nature: in this instance, a turtle trapped on its back beneath a big rock.
  Typical of their ill luck was a penalty, awarded for a foot block on Knight, but which was blasted narrowly wide by Ward, who was having such an outstanding game.
  We had planned a trip to Bangalore but as ill luck would have it, one of my internal exams has now been scheduled right in the middle of the little break I was banking on.
  This clearly implies, my correspondent asserts, that there is only one wheelchair available for use for every five passengers who have had the ill luck to be stood on.
  As explained elsewhere, the trip to Brisbane, or more precisely the trip back, was a journey of ill omen for young Les as it threw him into the close company of Tim O'Sullivan.
  Synonyms
  unlucky, adverse, unfavourable, unfortunate, unpropitious, inauspicious, unpromising, infelicitous, bad, gloomy

adverbilɪl

1usually in combination Badly, wrongly, or imperfectly.
it ill becomes one so beautiful to be gloomy
some of his premises seem ill-chosen
Example sentencesExamples
- If he finds himself similarly ill informed on other issues, he is welcome to write to me and I will try to keep him up to date if he and the local Conservatives can't manage this themselves.
- I suspect that it was imported to Korea within the last 600 years as Korea's climate is ill suited for the Mugunghwa, which thrives in the tropics.
- The Bosnian government was ill prepared to defend the country with no army and only a poorly equipped territorial defense force.
- It seemed as if people were competing with each other for an imaginary prize for being the most rowdy and ill mannered human being in that room.
- His disastrous management of the 1993 federal election showed that he was hopelessly out of his depth and totally ill equipped for the task.
- So, if this ill informed, ill educated, condemned criminal gets the happy ending of life eternal with God, may we not also have similar expectations?
- The Russians' military is very weak, very poor, very ill trained.
- There will be those who will claim that that this first failure shows that they are ill suited to running club nights.
- It found itself subjected to harsh rain it was ill equipped for, dissolving the sandstone facades of it's buildings slowly, even as the people chose not to lift their eyes and notice it.
- The big worry is that the cash-strapped Irish health service is ill equipped to deal with an epidemic of any form, least of all a potentially fatal virus like SARS.
- This question is rather abstract, but it serves to demonstrate how ill defined ‘harmful to minors’ may be.
- Kiribati was ill prepared for democracy by the British colonial regime, which mainly used people from Tuvalu as administrators.
- Would you risk the future success of your business on a bottle of homemade possibly ill tasting wine or would you have bottles of quality wine on hand to serve to your guests?
- Moreover, it is ill prepared to deal with any possible use of weapons.
- I must be that inexplicably angry, obtuse, ill mannered, audacious, pompous blow-hard that writes insulting letters to The Peak!
Synonyms
poorly, badly, imperfectly
badly, adversely, unsuccessfully, unfavourably
inadequately, unsatisfactorily, insufficiently, imperfectly, deficiently, defectively, poorly, badly, negligently
1. 1.1 Unfavorably or unpropitiously.
  something which boded ill for unwary golfers
  Example sentencesExamples
  I just watched ten minutes of speculation on whether a long deliberation bodes well or ill for the defense.
  Synonyms
  unfavourably, adversely, badly, unhappily, inauspiciously
2Only with difficulty; hardly.
she could ill afford the cost of new curtains
Example sentencesExamples
- Poor families can ill afford more than a few rupees.
- This loss of time could be ill afforded at a time when the technical preparations for Mike were at a critical stage.
- Culpeper's deepest desire was to make herbal medicine available to everyone, especially the poor who could ill afford to visit a physician.
- He stressed that some of the goods produced locally lacked quality and were produced at a comparatively higher cost making such goods ill equipped to compete on the regional market.
- Gee's Bend was a very poor community that could ill afford luxuries like store-bought blankets and bed coverings.
Synonyms
barely, scarcely, hardly, just, only just, just possibly, narrowly

nounilɪl

usually ills

1A problem or misfortune.
a lengthy work on the ills of society
Example sentencesExamples
- A certain social ill might suddenly get a burst of national publicity because editors at The New York Times decided to make it a page-one news feature.
- Mr Osborne repeats the myth that society's ills can be blamed on refugees.
- Injunctions against discrimination require that efficacious treatment for a human ill must be made equally accessible to everyone.
- Instead of seeing violence as a social ill, it excites and entertains us.
- While this Amendment was not intended to redress every social ill, its legitimate purposes certainly extend to the protection of unborn persons.
- Once we have that hope, it can be used to work against the ills in society, the negativity.
- Like so many ills of today's society, the cult of bigness has American origin.
- Of all the social ills and problems plaguing Bihar, sati was never on the list.
- The voters have to be sick of partisan wrangling and worried about unsolved national ills.
- So Bren naturally blames Ian for any ill that may happen.
- Both of them believe that society's ills can be fixed by putting the right man at the top to make laws and crack down on the wrong people.
- It has become an accepted part of our daily lives, like so many of the ills that plague our society.
- A humming economy, after all, fixes most if not all other ills in a society.
- One of the ills of our society in the recent past was the polarisation of black and white.
- After all, who in their right minds would imagine that theatre is responsible for the ills of society?
- You don't hear people talking about any other part that the markets will take care of it, that free trade is the panacea for every ill.
- The 1960s and 70s counterculture gets blamed for every current social ill by conservatives.
- Despite good intentions, psychiatrists can become complicit in shaping social ills.
- As tempting as it is to demonise computer games for society's ills, the evidence does not suggest such a simple link.
- And when Sha-King talks, he sounds as if he's reciting every imaginable ill in urban America.
Synonyms
problems, troubles, difficulties, misfortunes, strains, trials, tribulations, trials and tribulations, worries, anxieties, concerns
illnesses, ill health, poor health
1. 1.1 Evil or harm.
  how could I wish him ill?
  Example sentencesExamples
  So, I wish them no ill, but I think they should be stripped of their titles and that their immense wealth could be put to better use for the good of everyone.
  Yes, you have to - there's a kind of linguistic hygiene, like ethnic cleansing in a way, which works for ill and also for good.
  In short, I wish Mr Akam no ill, but hope this acts as a piece of constructive criticism.
  It is not in Justin Wilson's nature to wish ill of a rival - he is far too nice for that.
  Those wishing further ill may hope that a Sox loss will preserve the Fragile Equilibrium of Unhappiness that Boston fans know all too well.
  It is important to remember, however, that not all hatred is wishing another ill for its own sake.
  I wish Karen no ill, of course, and intend no mockery.
  We didn't wish the fox ill, but his determination to steal our hens didn't make him a friend of the family either.
  I wish her no ill at this stage in the competition.
  How do you tell such a person that you mean him no ill?
  Tris, you made a few good points about Gourmet Station Blog, which I, for good or ill named as this week's winner of ‘The Beyond Lame Award’.
  It can control the country's borders, and it can keep out or throw out those who wish our nation ill.
  I wished the senator no ill but if he didn't want people to hold this against him, he should at some point have declared that it was wrong.
  For ill or for good, the applications are endless!
  Emilia's eagerness to divulge her husband's guilt thus illustrates her revenge, her returning ill upon the man who has abused her.
  I don't wish the bloke any ill but me and a few others wouldn't be among those in the gallery clapping our hands.
  If that's for good or ill can't be judged, because the only vestiges we get of that more satirical version are a few extended scenes among the extras.
  I want to state that I do not wish ill upon any person, and this is in fact another part of the problem.
  I don't want to speak for anyone else, but people here generally are Democrats and wish political ill on the Republicans.
  Even though she married the wrong guy I wish her no ill at all.
  Synonyms
  harm, hurt, injury, damage, mischief, pain, trouble, unpleasantness, misfortune, grievance, suffering, distress, anguish, trauma, grief

Usage

On the punctuation of ill in compound adjectives, see well, as the same rules apply

Phrases

ill at ease

Uncomfortable or embarrassed.
Example sentencesExamples
- I just shifted in my seat, feeling very nervous, and ill at ease.
- Worse than that, everybody felt ill at ease and unsure how to behave in front of the former enemy.
- Russians, for historical reasons, can be acutely ill at ease with the idea of expounding uncomfortable truths in a formal setting.
- Any white person expressing such ideas is obviously a buttoned up racist, ill at ease with the realities of multicultural Britain and its vibrant black youth culture.
- Why did he seem so ill at ease, so uncomfortable with the role he had to play?
- The world depicted is a fascinating one, and we gaze upon it with rapt attention, even as the disquieting mood of the film keeps us ill at ease.
- She had become very uncomfortable and ill at ease when visiting her parents and suffered chronic tension.
- She sits isolated, straining at the boundaries of the picture, thoroughly ill at ease with her space.
- She feels awkward, ill at ease, and even intruded upon.
- It made him uncomfortable and ill at ease, and he felt she was trying to keep him there in the pilothouse.
Synonyms
awkward, uneasy, uncomfortable, self-conscious, out of place, unnatural, inhibited, gauche, strained

speak (or think) ill of

Say (or think) something critical about.
Example sentencesExamples
- Brown is unusual in contemporary poetry for her willingness to be thought ill of.
- Inherited distrust or whatnot of Christianity does not mean that Jews dislike Christians, or think ill of them, or even want them to stop practicing Christianity.
- He ‘feels bad’ about the torture, and he ‘feels bad’ that people think ill of America, and somehow that all evens things out.
- Theirs is only a slightly more sophisticated reading than many other millennialists, who might know Le Monde from the Golden Calf but would think ill of both for speaking French.
- People from the pro-work culture would think ill of themselves for being ‘lazy’ so why should they not think ill of others who are ‘lazy’?
- Unless one thinks ill of the woman he married, one can hardly regard this as ‘earned.’
- He was a handsome man, too handsome to be thought ill of by anyone, his aloof attitude did only add attractions to his charm.
- Nobody thinks ill of the many long-distance runners who simply did not have the bottle to finish in Athens.
- Every one who was looking my way had to be thinking ill of me.
- With all the scandals and bad publicity, it's no wonder that right thinking Americans tend to think ill of the beauty contest scene; but I realized in just one afternoon that pageants should be experienced before they are criticized.
Synonyms
denigrate, disparage, cast aspersions on, criticize, be critical of, speak badly of, speak of with disfavour, be unkind about, be malicious about, be spiteful towards, blacken the name of, blacken the character of, besmirch, run down, insult, abuse, attack, slight, revile, malign, vilify

Origin

Middle English (in the senses ‘wicked’, ‘malevolent’, ‘harmful’, and ‘difficult’): from Old Norse illr ‘evil, difficult’, of unknown origin.

单词	ill
释义	Definition of ill in English: ill adjective ɪlɪl 1Suffering from an illness or disease or feeling unwell. he was taken ill with food poisoning with submodifier a terminally ill patient even the seriously ill cannot get tests done immediately Example sentencesExamples He said it was reasonable to believe the water had not been contaminated before the period in question because no-one prior to that period had taken ill. As soon as John had taken ill, she had written to him. Everything's just fine now, he reassured them, except that the design isn't finished and the architect is mysteriously taken ill. She was very ill and bore her suffering with great dignity. Around one in ten people who are infected with amoebiasis become ill from the disease. There is no requirement that the suffering be physical or that the patient be terminally ill. Perhaps you are living with someone who is ill with a life-threatening disease. Leaders of our medical organisations should not allow informed consent to interfere with clinical management of infectious disease or seriously ill patients. On the occasion his mother had taken ill and he was trying to get assistance for her. One came to the aid of an elderly man taken ill at a bus stop. She had taken ill long ago, only a few years after they had married. Terminally ill patients slowly become worse as the disease takes over their body until it kills them. Along with morphine, it was prescribed to chronically ill patients suffering everything from asthma to diarrhoea. Siti said that volunteers should also understand that terminally ill patients usually suffer from psychological strain due to their illness. Two other patients are critically ill after contracting the disease through infected organs from the donor. Infectious complications in critically ill patients can cause increased morbidity and mortality. Some years ago I was called to attend a man I did not know who had taken ill very suddenly. A woman terminally ill with motor neurone disease will next week begin a High Court battle to win the right to die, it was announced yesterday. The major reason for the redesign of services is to ensure the best possible care for critically ill patients as well as those with less serious illness and injuries. Haemophiliacs are ill and are suffering and time is not on our side. Synonyms unwell, sick, not (very) well, ailing, poorly, sickly, peaky, afflicted, indisposed, infirm, liverish out of sorts, not oneself, not in good shape, not up to par, under/below par, bad, in a bad way bedridden, invalided, on the sick list, valetudinarian queasy, nauseous, nauseated weak, feeble, frail diseased, infected British off colour informal under the weather, not up to snuff, laid up, dicky, funny, peculiar, iffy, crummy, lousy, rough, groggy, green about the gills, at death's door, like death warmed up British informal ropy, grotty Scottish informal wabbit Australian/New Zealand informal crook vulgar slang crappy dated queer, seedy 2attributive Poor in quality. ill judgement dogs the unsuccessful Example sentencesExamples Is their any provision to ban an umpire for his attitude problems and making of ill decisions? It was because of her ill judgment. Synonyms bad, poor, unsatisfactory, incompetent, unacceptable, inadequate, deficient, defective, faulty, unskilful, inexpert, amateurish 2.1 Bad or harmful. she had a cup of the same wine and suffered no ill effects Example sentencesExamples However, the average life of an Indian was 62 as the ill effects of cancer were visible only at a later stage in life. The ill effects of that ad campaign still lingers on and won't be eradicated in the short term. And that's part of trying to educate people about drugs and warn them about the ill effects of drugs. For most otherwise healthy people the virus, while debilitating in the short term, leaves no lasting ill effects. But care need to be taken to reduce the ill effects of computers as far as possible. Some of the exhibits clearly illustrated the ill effects of pollution on public health. The ill effects included foetal hypoxia and death, neo-natal jaundice and several such complications. But Mr Briggs said safeguards would be put in place to control the ill effects of gambling. The new government will be pressed to reconcile religious conflicts and work out a policy that is considerate of the poor and mitigates the ill effects of economic growth. Getting out to an exercise class is a good way of releasing stress and reducing the ill effects of it. What is highly disputed, however, is the dose of radiation that will result in ill effects. By far the most serious ill effect of the sun is skin cancer. Teenagers would be made aware of the ill effects of smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse. I have always known the ill effects of smoking but did not know how harmful it could be. But as time went on you couldn't help noticing the ill effects. Compared to the convenience of the tool, the ill effect of spam is very serious. And the cats both survived the stay in the cattery without too many ill effects. The wife admitted that she and her husband had frequently had potted meat from the shop without ill effects. To the normal ill effects of heavy summer rainfall is added direct physical damage to the vines and fruit. Therefore, if we are foolhardy enough to tax the desirable voluntary activities of individuals and firms, we should expect the ill effects to be numerous and serious. Synonyms harmful, damaging, detrimental, deleterious, adverse, injurious, hurtful, destructive, pernicious, inimical, dangerous, ruinous, calamitous, disastrous, malign, malignant unhealthy, unwholesome, poisonous, noxious, cancerous literary malefic, maleficent, nocuous, baneful 2.2 Not favourable or auspicious. I have had a run of ill luck a bird of ill omen Example sentencesExamples Drug rehab, ill fortune or the vagaries of life may have some part to play in this, but spurts of activity have at least resulted in a handful of albums that bask in the glow that only rarity can bestow. Since the earliest times, man has gazed skyward, hoping to discern signs of good or ill fortune in the patterns of the stars. More than 50 years of constant US intervention have led to a plethora of ill fortune in the region. Typical of their ill luck was a penalty, awarded for a foot block on Knight, but which was blasted narrowly wide by Ward, who was having such an outstanding game. This clearly implies, my correspondent asserts, that there is only one wheelchair available for use for every five passengers who have had the ill luck to be stood on. For his ill fortune alone, defeat was unthinkable. During that journey, we once again encounter an ill omen in nature: in this instance, a turtle trapped on its back beneath a big rock. We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again. As explained elsewhere, the trip to Brisbane, or more precisely the trip back, was a journey of ill omen for young Les as it threw him into the close company of Tim O'Sullivan. We have posted every published story regarding the riot because we thought that in many respects it was an omen of ill tidings for Minneapolis. The symbol is formed from the shape of a cross, with the arms bent to the right symbolising health and life, or to the left, which came to symbolise ill fortune. Maguire missed four of the last Cheltenham Festivals due to ill fortune. They usually employed various psychological techniques to cope with and often even thrive upon any ill fortune that came their way. While Cleary was one of the great scrum-halves of his generation, ill fortune declared he never got to pull on the green jersey in a full international. Cursing their ill luck, the ad men are spending extra money to remove these posters to make the hoardings visible. Naturally, Gurley was disappointed but rather than brood over his ill luck he decided to refocus on qualifying himself academically. Is this an ill omen, I wonder, or some kind of inner-city voodoo ritual? To cap Flanagan's misfortune, he punctured with 15 miles to go and there was an immediate charge from the front of his bunch, capitalising on his ill luck. Sheba had a double dose of ill fortune in her short life. We had planned a trip to Bangalore but as ill luck would have it, one of my internal exams has now been scheduled right in the middle of the little break I was banking on. Synonyms unlucky, adverse, unfavourable, unfortunate, unpropitious, inauspicious, unpromising, infelicitous, bad, gloomy threatening, menacing, ominous, sinister, disturbing, dire, evil, baleful, forbidding, portentous archaic direful rare minatory, minacious adverb ɪlɪl 1usually in combination Badly, wrongly, or imperfectly. the street is dominated by ill-lit shops it ill becomes one so beautiful to be gloomy Example sentencesExamples I suspect that it was imported to Korea within the last 600 years as Korea's climate is ill suited for the Mugunghwa, which thrives in the tropics. It seemed as if people were competing with each other for an imaginary prize for being the most rowdy and ill mannered human being in that room. This question is rather abstract, but it serves to demonstrate how ill defined ‘harmful to minors’ may be. The Russians' military is very weak, very poor, very ill trained. The big worry is that the cash-strapped Irish health service is ill equipped to deal with an epidemic of any form, least of all a potentially fatal virus like SARS. There will be those who will claim that that this first failure shows that they are ill suited to running club nights. Would you risk the future success of your business on a bottle of homemade possibly ill tasting wine or would you have bottles of quality wine on hand to serve to your guests? His disastrous management of the 1993 federal election showed that he was hopelessly out of his depth and totally ill equipped for the task. So, if this ill informed, ill educated, condemned criminal gets the happy ending of life eternal with God, may we not also have similar expectations? It found itself subjected to harsh rain it was ill equipped for, dissolving the sandstone facades of it's buildings slowly, even as the people chose not to lift their eyes and notice it. Kiribati was ill prepared for democracy by the British colonial regime, which mainly used people from Tuvalu as administrators. Moreover, it is ill prepared to deal with any possible use of weapons. If he finds himself similarly ill informed on other issues, he is welcome to write to me and I will try to keep him up to date if he and the local Conservatives can't manage this themselves. I must be that inexplicably angry, obtuse, ill mannered, audacious, pompous blow-hard that writes insulting letters to The Peak! The Bosnian government was ill prepared to defend the country with no army and only a poorly equipped territorial defense force. Synonyms poorly, badly, imperfectly wrongly, unsuccessfully badly, adversely, unsuccessfully, unfavourably unfortunately, unluckily, hard, inauspiciously inadequately, unsatisfactorily, insufficiently, imperfectly, deficiently, defectively, poorly, badly, negligently 1.1 Unfavourably or inauspiciously. a look on her face which boded ill for anyone who crossed her path Example sentencesExamples I just watched ten minutes of speculation on whether a long deliberation bodes well or ill for the defense. Synonyms unfavourably, adversely, badly, unhappily, inauspiciously 2Only with difficulty; hardly. she could ill afford the cost of new curtains Example sentencesExamples This loss of time could be ill afforded at a time when the technical preparations for Mike were at a critical stage. Gee's Bend was a very poor community that could ill afford luxuries like store-bought blankets and bed coverings. He stressed that some of the goods produced locally lacked quality and were produced at a comparatively higher cost making such goods ill equipped to compete on the regional market. Culpeper's deepest desire was to make herbal medicine available to everyone, especially the poor who could ill afford to visit a physician. Poor families can ill afford more than a few rupees. Synonyms barely, scarcely, hardly, just, only just, just possibly, narrowly with difficulty, only with effort British informal at a push noun ɪlɪl usually ills 1A problem or misfortune. a lengthy work on the ills of society Example sentencesExamples It has become an accepted part of our daily lives, like so many of the ills that plague our society. The voters have to be sick of partisan wrangling and worried about unsolved national ills. Mr Osborne repeats the myth that society's ills can be blamed on refugees. You don't hear people talking about any other part that the markets will take care of it, that free trade is the panacea for every ill. Like so many ills of today's society, the cult of bigness has American origin. The 1960s and 70s counterculture gets blamed for every current social ill by conservatives. A humming economy, after all, fixes most if not all other ills in a society. Of all the social ills and problems plaguing Bihar, sati was never on the list. Despite good intentions, psychiatrists can become complicit in shaping social ills. Injunctions against discrimination require that efficacious treatment for a human ill must be made equally accessible to everyone. Once we have that hope, it can be used to work against the ills in society, the negativity. A certain social ill might suddenly get a burst of national publicity because editors at The New York Times decided to make it a page-one news feature. One of the ills of our society in the recent past was the polarisation of black and white. So Bren naturally blames Ian for any ill that may happen. And when Sha-King talks, he sounds as if he's reciting every imaginable ill in urban America. Instead of seeing violence as a social ill, it excites and entertains us. As tempting as it is to demonise computer games for society's ills, the evidence does not suggest such a simple link. While this Amendment was not intended to redress every social ill, its legitimate purposes certainly extend to the protection of unborn persons. After all, who in their right minds would imagine that theatre is responsible for the ills of society? Both of them believe that society's ills can be fixed by putting the right man at the top to make laws and crack down on the wrong people. Synonyms problems, troubles, difficulties, misfortunes, strains, trials, tribulations, trials and tribulations, worries, anxieties, concerns pain, suffering, hardship, misery, woe, affliction, distress, disquiet, malaise informal headaches, probs, hassles archaic travails illnesses, ill/poor health ailments, disorders, complaints, afflictions, sicknesses, diseases, maladies, infirmities, indispositions infections, contagions 1.1mass noun Evil or harm. how could I wish him ill? Example sentencesExamples I wish her no ill at this stage in the competition. It is important to remember, however, that not all hatred is wishing another ill for its own sake. I don't wish the bloke any ill but me and a few others wouldn't be among those in the gallery clapping our hands. In short, I wish Mr Akam no ill, but hope this acts as a piece of constructive criticism. If that's for good or ill can't be judged, because the only vestiges we get of that more satirical version are a few extended scenes among the extras. I wished the senator no ill but if he didn't want people to hold this against him, he should at some point have declared that it was wrong. So, I wish them no ill, but I think they should be stripped of their titles and that their immense wealth could be put to better use for the good of everyone. We didn't wish the fox ill, but his determination to steal our hens didn't make him a friend of the family either. Yes, you have to - there's a kind of linguistic hygiene, like ethnic cleansing in a way, which works for ill and also for good. I want to state that I do not wish ill upon any person, and this is in fact another part of the problem. Even though she married the wrong guy I wish her no ill at all. For ill or for good, the applications are endless! How do you tell such a person that you mean him no ill? It is not in Justin Wilson's nature to wish ill of a rival - he is far too nice for that. Those wishing further ill may hope that a Sox loss will preserve the Fragile Equilibrium of Unhappiness that Boston fans know all too well. I don't want to speak for anyone else, but people here generally are Democrats and wish political ill on the Republicans. It can control the country's borders, and it can keep out or throw out those who wish our nation ill. I wish Karen no ill, of course, and intend no mockery. Emilia's eagerness to divulge her husband's guilt thus illustrates her revenge, her returning ill upon the man who has abused her. Tris, you made a few good points about Gourmet Station Blog, which I, for good or ill named as this week's winner of ‘The Beyond Lame Award’. Synonyms harm, hurt, injury, damage, mischief, pain, trouble, unpleasantness, misfortune, grievance, suffering, distress, anguish, trauma, grief Phrases ill at ease Uncomfortable or embarrassed. Example sentencesExamples She feels awkward, ill at ease, and even intruded upon. Any white person expressing such ideas is obviously a buttoned up racist, ill at ease with the realities of multicultural Britain and its vibrant black youth culture. She had become very uncomfortable and ill at ease when visiting her parents and suffered chronic tension. I just shifted in my seat, feeling very nervous, and ill at ease. Worse than that, everybody felt ill at ease and unsure how to behave in front of the former enemy. It made him uncomfortable and ill at ease, and he felt she was trying to keep him there in the pilothouse. Why did he seem so ill at ease, so uncomfortable with the role he had to play? Russians, for historical reasons, can be acutely ill at ease with the idea of expounding uncomfortable truths in a formal setting. The world depicted is a fascinating one, and we gaze upon it with rapt attention, even as the disquieting mood of the film keeps us ill at ease. She sits isolated, straining at the boundaries of the picture, thoroughly ill at ease with her space. Synonyms awkward, uneasy, uncomfortable, self-conscious, out of place, unnatural, inhibited, gauche, strained speak (or think) ill of Say (or think) something critical about (someone). Example sentencesExamples Every one who was looking my way had to be thinking ill of me. Unless one thinks ill of the woman he married, one can hardly regard this as ‘earned.’ Nobody thinks ill of the many long-distance runners who simply did not have the bottle to finish in Athens. Inherited distrust or whatnot of Christianity does not mean that Jews dislike Christians, or think ill of them, or even want them to stop practicing Christianity. Brown is unusual in contemporary poetry for her willingness to be thought ill of. He was a handsome man, too handsome to be thought ill of by anyone, his aloof attitude did only add attractions to his charm. Theirs is only a slightly more sophisticated reading than many other millennialists, who might know Le Monde from the Golden Calf but would think ill of both for speaking French. With all the scandals and bad publicity, it's no wonder that right thinking Americans tend to think ill of the beauty contest scene; but I realized in just one afternoon that pageants should be experienced before they are criticized. People from the pro-work culture would think ill of themselves for being ‘lazy’ so why should they not think ill of others who are ‘lazy’? He ‘feels bad’ about the torture, and he ‘feels bad’ that people think ill of America, and somehow that all evens things out. Synonyms denigrate, disparage, cast aspersions on, criticize, be critical of, speak badly of, speak of with disfavour, be unkind about, be malicious about, be spiteful towards, blacken the name of, blacken the character of, besmirch, run down, insult, abuse, attack, slight, revile, malign, vilify Origin Middle English (in the senses 'wicked', 'malevolent', 'harmful', and 'difficult'): from Old Norse illr 'evil, difficult', of unknown origin. Ill is from Old Norse illr ‘evil’, and the commonest modern sense, ‘suffering from an illness or feeling unwell’, developed in the later medieval period. Before then a person would be sick, as they still are in the USA. The idea of harm and evil is prominent in many English proverbs, such as it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. This refers to the days of sailing ships. The wind might be blowing in the wrong direction for you, but it was sure to be blowing the right way for someone, somewhere—it would be a very bad or ‘ill’ wind that was of no help to anyone. Rhymes bill, Brazil, brill, Camille, chill, cookchill, dill, distil (US distill), downhill, drill, Edgehill, Estoril, fill, freewill, frill, fulfil (US fulfill), Gill, goodwill, grill, grille, hill, instil, kill, krill, mil, mill, nil, Phil, pill, quadrille, quill, rill, Seville, shill, shrill, sill, skill, spadille, spill, squill, still, stock-still, swill, thill, thrill, till, trill, twill, until, uphill, will adj.1 phr. Definition of ill in US English: ill adjectiveilɪl 1Not in full health; sick. her daughter is seriously ill with submodifier a terminally ill patient even the seriously ill cannot get tests done immediately Example sentencesExamples The major reason for the redesign of services is to ensure the best possible care for critically ill patients as well as those with less serious illness and injuries. As soon as John had taken ill, she had written to him. Infectious complications in critically ill patients can cause increased morbidity and mortality. She was very ill and bore her suffering with great dignity. Perhaps you are living with someone who is ill with a life-threatening disease. Along with morphine, it was prescribed to chronically ill patients suffering everything from asthma to diarrhoea. One came to the aid of an elderly man taken ill at a bus stop. Haemophiliacs are ill and are suffering and time is not on our side. A woman terminally ill with motor neurone disease will next week begin a High Court battle to win the right to die, it was announced yesterday. Siti said that volunteers should also understand that terminally ill patients usually suffer from psychological strain due to their illness. He said it was reasonable to believe the water had not been contaminated before the period in question because no-one prior to that period had taken ill. Leaders of our medical organisations should not allow informed consent to interfere with clinical management of infectious disease or seriously ill patients. On the occasion his mother had taken ill and he was trying to get assistance for her. Two other patients are critically ill after contracting the disease through infected organs from the donor. Some years ago I was called to attend a man I did not know who had taken ill very suddenly. Terminally ill patients slowly become worse as the disease takes over their body until it kills them. There is no requirement that the suffering be physical or that the patient be terminally ill. She had taken ill long ago, only a few years after they had married. Everything's just fine now, he reassured them, except that the design isn't finished and the architect is mysteriously taken ill. Around one in ten people who are infected with amoebiasis become ill from the disease. Synonyms unwell, sick, not well, not very well, ailing, poorly, sickly, peaky, afflicted, indisposed, infirm, liverish 2attributive Poor in quality. ill judgment dogs the unsuccessful Example sentencesExamples Is their any provision to ban an umpire for his attitude problems and making of ill decisions? It was because of her ill judgment. Synonyms bad, poor, unsatisfactory, incompetent, unacceptable, inadequate, deficient, defective, faulty, unskilful, inexpert, amateurish 2.1 Harmful. she had a cup of the same wine and suffered no ill effects Example sentencesExamples By far the most serious ill effect of the sun is skin cancer. The ill effects of that ad campaign still lingers on and won't be eradicated in the short term. The new government will be pressed to reconcile religious conflicts and work out a policy that is considerate of the poor and mitigates the ill effects of economic growth. What is highly disputed, however, is the dose of radiation that will result in ill effects. But care need to be taken to reduce the ill effects of computers as far as possible. Teenagers would be made aware of the ill effects of smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse. The wife admitted that she and her husband had frequently had potted meat from the shop without ill effects. I have always known the ill effects of smoking but did not know how harmful it could be. For most otherwise healthy people the virus, while debilitating in the short term, leaves no lasting ill effects. To the normal ill effects of heavy summer rainfall is added direct physical damage to the vines and fruit. But Mr Briggs said safeguards would be put in place to control the ill effects of gambling. Getting out to an exercise class is a good way of releasing stress and reducing the ill effects of it. However, the average life of an Indian was 62 as the ill effects of cancer were visible only at a later stage in life. And the cats both survived the stay in the cattery without too many ill effects. Some of the exhibits clearly illustrated the ill effects of pollution on public health. Therefore, if we are foolhardy enough to tax the desirable voluntary activities of individuals and firms, we should expect the ill effects to be numerous and serious. But as time went on you couldn't help noticing the ill effects. The ill effects included foetal hypoxia and death, neo-natal jaundice and several such complications. And that's part of trying to educate people about drugs and warn them about the ill effects of drugs. Compared to the convenience of the tool, the ill effect of spam is very serious. Synonyms harmful, damaging, detrimental, deleterious, adverse, injurious, hurtful, destructive, pernicious, inimical, dangerous, ruinous, calamitous, disastrous, malign, malignant 2.2 Hostile. it did give rise to a lot of ill feelings 2.3 (especially of fortune) not favorable. no one less deserved such ill fortune than McStay Example sentencesExamples Naturally, Gurley was disappointed but rather than brood over his ill luck he decided to refocus on qualifying himself academically. We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again. For his ill fortune alone, defeat was unthinkable. Is this an ill omen, I wonder, or some kind of inner-city voodoo ritual? The symbol is formed from the shape of a cross, with the arms bent to the right symbolising health and life, or to the left, which came to symbolise ill fortune. While Cleary was one of the great scrum-halves of his generation, ill fortune declared he never got to pull on the green jersey in a full international. Since the earliest times, man has gazed skyward, hoping to discern signs of good or ill fortune in the patterns of the stars. More than 50 years of constant US intervention have led to a plethora of ill fortune in the region. Drug rehab, ill fortune or the vagaries of life may have some part to play in this, but spurts of activity have at least resulted in a handful of albums that bask in the glow that only rarity can bestow. Maguire missed four of the last Cheltenham Festivals due to ill fortune. Sheba had a double dose of ill fortune in her short life. They usually employed various psychological techniques to cope with and often even thrive upon any ill fortune that came their way. Cursing their ill luck, the ad men are spending extra money to remove these posters to make the hoardings visible. To cap Flanagan's misfortune, he punctured with 15 miles to go and there was an immediate charge from the front of his bunch, capitalising on his ill luck. We have posted every published story regarding the riot because we thought that in many respects it was an omen of ill tidings for Minneapolis. During that journey, we once again encounter an ill omen in nature: in this instance, a turtle trapped on its back beneath a big rock. Typical of their ill luck was a penalty, awarded for a foot block on Knight, but which was blasted narrowly wide by Ward, who was having such an outstanding game. We had planned a trip to Bangalore but as ill luck would have it, one of my internal exams has now been scheduled right in the middle of the little break I was banking on. This clearly implies, my correspondent asserts, that there is only one wheelchair available for use for every five passengers who have had the ill luck to be stood on. As explained elsewhere, the trip to Brisbane, or more precisely the trip back, was a journey of ill omen for young Les as it threw him into the close company of Tim O'Sullivan. Synonyms unlucky, adverse, unfavourable, unfortunate, unpropitious, inauspicious, unpromising, infelicitous, bad, gloomy adverbilɪl 1usually in combination Badly, wrongly, or imperfectly. it ill becomes one so beautiful to be gloomy some of his premises seem ill-chosen Example sentencesExamples If he finds himself similarly ill informed on other issues, he is welcome to write to me and I will try to keep him up to date if he and the local Conservatives can't manage this themselves. I suspect that it was imported to Korea within the last 600 years as Korea's climate is ill suited for the Mugunghwa, which thrives in the tropics. The Bosnian government was ill prepared to defend the country with no army and only a poorly equipped territorial defense force. It seemed as if people were competing with each other for an imaginary prize for being the most rowdy and ill mannered human being in that room. His disastrous management of the 1993 federal election showed that he was hopelessly out of his depth and totally ill equipped for the task. So, if this ill informed, ill educated, condemned criminal gets the happy ending of life eternal with God, may we not also have similar expectations? The Russians' military is very weak, very poor, very ill trained. There will be those who will claim that that this first failure shows that they are ill suited to running club nights. It found itself subjected to harsh rain it was ill equipped for, dissolving the sandstone facades of it's buildings slowly, even as the people chose not to lift their eyes and notice it. The big worry is that the cash-strapped Irish health service is ill equipped to deal with an epidemic of any form, least of all a potentially fatal virus like SARS. This question is rather abstract, but it serves to demonstrate how ill defined ‘harmful to minors’ may be. Kiribati was ill prepared for democracy by the British colonial regime, which mainly used people from Tuvalu as administrators. Would you risk the future success of your business on a bottle of homemade possibly ill tasting wine or would you have bottles of quality wine on hand to serve to your guests? Moreover, it is ill prepared to deal with any possible use of weapons. I must be that inexplicably angry, obtuse, ill mannered, audacious, pompous blow-hard that writes insulting letters to The Peak! Synonyms poorly, badly, imperfectly badly, adversely, unsuccessfully, unfavourably inadequately, unsatisfactorily, insufficiently, imperfectly, deficiently, defectively, poorly, badly, negligently 1.1 Unfavorably or unpropitiously. something which boded ill for unwary golfers Example sentencesExamples I just watched ten minutes of speculation on whether a long deliberation bodes well or ill for the defense. Synonyms unfavourably, adversely, badly, unhappily, inauspiciously 2Only with difficulty; hardly. she could ill afford the cost of new curtains Example sentencesExamples Poor families can ill afford more than a few rupees. This loss of time could be ill afforded at a time when the technical preparations for Mike were at a critical stage. Culpeper's deepest desire was to make herbal medicine available to everyone, especially the poor who could ill afford to visit a physician. He stressed that some of the goods produced locally lacked quality and were produced at a comparatively higher cost making such goods ill equipped to compete on the regional market. Gee's Bend was a very poor community that could ill afford luxuries like store-bought blankets and bed coverings. Synonyms barely, scarcely, hardly, just, only just, just possibly, narrowly nounilɪl usually ills 1A problem or misfortune. a lengthy work on the ills of society Example sentencesExamples A certain social ill might suddenly get a burst of national publicity because editors at The New York Times decided to make it a page-one news feature. Mr Osborne repeats the myth that society's ills can be blamed on refugees. Injunctions against discrimination require that efficacious treatment for a human ill must be made equally accessible to everyone. Instead of seeing violence as a social ill, it excites and entertains us. While this Amendment was not intended to redress every social ill, its legitimate purposes certainly extend to the protection of unborn persons. Once we have that hope, it can be used to work against the ills in society, the negativity. Like so many ills of today's society, the cult of bigness has American origin. Of all the social ills and problems plaguing Bihar, sati was never on the list. The voters have to be sick of partisan wrangling and worried about unsolved national ills. So Bren naturally blames Ian for any ill that may happen. Both of them believe that society's ills can be fixed by putting the right man at the top to make laws and crack down on the wrong people. It has become an accepted part of our daily lives, like so many of the ills that plague our society. A humming economy, after all, fixes most if not all other ills in a society. One of the ills of our society in the recent past was the polarisation of black and white. After all, who in their right minds would imagine that theatre is responsible for the ills of society? You don't hear people talking about any other part that the markets will take care of it, that free trade is the panacea for every ill. The 1960s and 70s counterculture gets blamed for every current social ill by conservatives. Despite good intentions, psychiatrists can become complicit in shaping social ills. As tempting as it is to demonise computer games for society's ills, the evidence does not suggest such a simple link. And when Sha-King talks, he sounds as if he's reciting every imaginable ill in urban America. Synonyms problems, troubles, difficulties, misfortunes, strains, trials, tribulations, trials and tribulations, worries, anxieties, concerns illnesses, ill health, poor health 1.1 Evil or harm. how could I wish him ill? Example sentencesExamples So, I wish them no ill, but I think they should be stripped of their titles and that their immense wealth could be put to better use for the good of everyone. Yes, you have to - there's a kind of linguistic hygiene, like ethnic cleansing in a way, which works for ill and also for good. In short, I wish Mr Akam no ill, but hope this acts as a piece of constructive criticism. It is not in Justin Wilson's nature to wish ill of a rival - he is far too nice for that. Those wishing further ill may hope that a Sox loss will preserve the Fragile Equilibrium of Unhappiness that Boston fans know all too well. It is important to remember, however, that not all hatred is wishing another ill for its own sake. I wish Karen no ill, of course, and intend no mockery. We didn't wish the fox ill, but his determination to steal our hens didn't make him a friend of the family either. I wish her no ill at this stage in the competition. How do you tell such a person that you mean him no ill? Tris, you made a few good points about Gourmet Station Blog, which I, for good or ill named as this week's winner of ‘The Beyond Lame Award’. It can control the country's borders, and it can keep out or throw out those who wish our nation ill. I wished the senator no ill but if he didn't want people to hold this against him, he should at some point have declared that it was wrong. For ill or for good, the applications are endless! Emilia's eagerness to divulge her husband's guilt thus illustrates her revenge, her returning ill upon the man who has abused her. I don't wish the bloke any ill but me and a few others wouldn't be among those in the gallery clapping our hands. If that's for good or ill can't be judged, because the only vestiges we get of that more satirical version are a few extended scenes among the extras. I want to state that I do not wish ill upon any person, and this is in fact another part of the problem. I don't want to speak for anyone else, but people here generally are Democrats and wish political ill on the Republicans. Even though she married the wrong guy I wish her no ill at all. Synonyms harm, hurt, injury, damage, mischief, pain, trouble, unpleasantness, misfortune, grievance, suffering, distress, anguish, trauma, grief Usage On the punctuation of ill in compound adjectives, see well, as the same rules apply Phrases ill at ease Uncomfortable or embarrassed. Example sentencesExamples I just shifted in my seat, feeling very nervous, and ill at ease. Worse than that, everybody felt ill at ease and unsure how to behave in front of the former enemy. Russians, for historical reasons, can be acutely ill at ease with the idea of expounding uncomfortable truths in a formal setting. Any white person expressing such ideas is obviously a buttoned up racist, ill at ease with the realities of multicultural Britain and its vibrant black youth culture. Why did he seem so ill at ease, so uncomfortable with the role he had to play? The world depicted is a fascinating one, and we gaze upon it with rapt attention, even as the disquieting mood of the film keeps us ill at ease. She had become very uncomfortable and ill at ease when visiting her parents and suffered chronic tension. She sits isolated, straining at the boundaries of the picture, thoroughly ill at ease with her space. She feels awkward, ill at ease, and even intruded upon. It made him uncomfortable and ill at ease, and he felt she was trying to keep him there in the pilothouse. Synonyms awkward, uneasy, uncomfortable, self-conscious, out of place, unnatural, inhibited, gauche, strained speak (or think) ill of Say (or think) something critical about. Example sentencesExamples Brown is unusual in contemporary poetry for her willingness to be thought ill of. Inherited distrust or whatnot of Christianity does not mean that Jews dislike Christians, or think ill of them, or even want them to stop practicing Christianity. He ‘feels bad’ about the torture, and he ‘feels bad’ that people think ill of America, and somehow that all evens things out. Theirs is only a slightly more sophisticated reading than many other millennialists, who might know Le Monde from the Golden Calf but would think ill of both for speaking French. People from the pro-work culture would think ill of themselves for being ‘lazy’ so why should they not think ill of others who are ‘lazy’? Unless one thinks ill of the woman he married, one can hardly regard this as ‘earned.’ He was a handsome man, too handsome to be thought ill of by anyone, his aloof attitude did only add attractions to his charm. Nobody thinks ill of the many long-distance runners who simply did not have the bottle to finish in Athens. Every one who was looking my way had to be thinking ill of me. With all the scandals and bad publicity, it's no wonder that right thinking Americans tend to think ill of the beauty contest scene; but I realized in just one afternoon that pageants should be experienced before they are criticized. Synonyms denigrate, disparage, cast aspersions on, criticize, be critical of, speak badly of, speak of with disfavour, be unkind about, be malicious about, be spiteful towards, blacken the name of, blacken the character of, besmirch, run down, insult, abuse, attack, slight, revile, malign, vilify Origin Middle English (in the senses ‘wicked’, ‘malevolent’, ‘harmful’, and ‘difficult’): from Old Norse illr ‘evil, difficult’, of unknown origin. adj.1 phr.
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