Ill Definition
ĭl
worse, worst, illest
adjective
worse, illest
Characterized by, causing, or tending to cause harm or evil.
Webster's New World
Not healthy, normal, or well; having a disease; sick; indisposed.
Webster's New World
Not normal; unsound.
An ill condition of body and mind.
American Heritage Medicine
Resulting in suffering; harmful or distressing.
The ill effects of a misconceived policy.
American Heritage
Not according to rule, custom, desirability, etc.; faulty; imperfect.
Ill breeding.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
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adverb
In an ill manner.
Webster's New World
In a bad, inadequate, or improper way. Often used in combination.
My words were ill-chosen.
American Heritage
In an unfavorable way; unpropitiously.
A statistic that bodes ill for job growth.
American Heritage
With difficulty; scarcely.
They can ill afford to refuse.
Webster's New World
Not well; imperfectly, badly; hardly.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
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noun
Evil or misfortune.
Webster's New World
Anything causing harm, trouble, wrong, pain, unhappiness, etc.
Webster's New World
Something that reflects in an unfavorable way on one.
Please don't speak ill of me when I'm gone.
American Heritage
Sick people considered as a group. Often used with the.
American Heritage Medicine
Synonyms:
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abbreviation
Illustrated.
Webster's New World
Illustration.
Webster's New World
Illustrator.
Webster's New World
Illinois.
Webster's New World
idiom
ill at ease
- Anxious or unsure; uneasy:
The stranger made me feel ill at ease.
American Heritage
ill at ease
- uneasy; uncomfortable
Webster's New World
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Other Word Forms of Ill
Noun
Singular:
ill
Plural:
illsAdjective
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Ill
Origin of Ill
-
Middle English ille ‘evil, wicked’, from Old Norse illr (adj.), illa (adv.), ilt (noun) (whence Danish ilde), from Proto-Germanic *elhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁elḱ- (whence Latin ulcus ‘sore’, Ancient Greek hélkos ‘wound, ulcer’, Sanskrit árśas ‘hemorrhoids’).
From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old Norse īllr bad
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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