Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Not healthy; sick.
- adjective Not normal; unsound.
- adjective Resulting in suffering; harmful or distressing.
- adjective Resulting from or suggestive of evil intentions.
- adjective Ascribing an objectionable quality.
- adjective Hostile or unfriendly.
- adjective Harmful; pernicious.
- adjective Not favorable; unpropitious.
- adjective Not measuring up to recognized standards of excellence, as of behavior or conduct.
- adjective Slang Excellent; outstanding.
- adverb In a bad, inadequate, or improper way. Often used in combination.
- adverb In an unfavorable way; unpropitiously.
- adverb Scarcely or with difficulty.
- noun Evil, wrongdoing, or harm.
- noun Something that causes suffering; trouble.
- noun Something that reflects in an unfavorable way on one.
- noun Sick people considered as a group. Often used with the.
- idiom (ill at ease) Anxious or unsure; uneasy.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Badly; imperfectly; unfavorably; unfortunately.
- Not easily; with hardship, pain, or difficulty: as, he is ill able to bear the loss.
- To do evil to; harm; injure.
- To slander; defame.
- noun Abbreviations of Illinois.
- noun Abbreviations of illustrated or of illustration.
- Inherently bad or evil; of pernicious quality or character; vicious; wicked; malevolent.
- Causing evil or harm; baneful; mischievous; pernicious; deleterious: as, it is an ill wind that blows nobody good.
- Marked or attended by evil or suffering; disastrous; wretched; miserable: as, an ill fate; an ill ending.
- Of bad import, bearing, or aspect; threatening; forbidding; harsh; inimical: as, ill news travels fast; an ill countenance.
- In a bad or disordered state morally; unbalanced; cross; crabbed; unfriendly; unpropitious; hostile: as, ill nature; ill temper; ill feeling; ill will.
- In a disordered state physically; diseased; impaired: as, to be ill of a fever; to be taken ill; ill health.
- Not proper; not legitimate or polite; rude; unpolished: as, ill manners; ill breeding.
- Unskilful; inexpert: as, I am ill at reckoning.
- noun Evil; wrong; wickedness; depravity.
- noun Misfortune; calamity; adversity; disaster; disease; pain.
- noun Anything that is discreditable or injurious.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Whatever annoys or impairs happiness, or prevents success; evil of any kind; misfortune; calamity; disease; pain.
- noun Whatever is contrary to good, in a moral sense; wickedness; depravity; iniquity; wrong; evil.
- adverb In a ill manner; badly; weakly.
- adjective Contrary to good, in a physical sense; contrary or opposed to advantage, happiness, etc.; bad; evil; unfortunate; disagreeable; unfavorable.
- adjective Contrary to good, in a moral sense; evil; wicked; wrong; iniquitious; naughtly; bad; improper.
- adjective Sick; indisposed; unwell; diseased; disordered.
- adjective Not according with rule, fitness, or propriety; incorrect; rude; unpolished; inelegant.
- adjective uneasy; uncomfortable; anxious.
- adjective enmity; resentment; bad blood.
- adjective lack of good breeding; rudeness.
- adjective ill or bad repute.
- adjective a disagreeable mood; bad temper.
- adjective bad disposition or temperament; sullenness; esp., a disposition to cause unhappiness to others.
- adjective anger; moroseness; crossness.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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IV. i.35 (385,8) [that my heart means no ill] [W: tho '] _That my heart means no ill_, is the same with _to whom my heart means no ill_; the common phrase suppresses the particle, as _I mean him_ [not _to_ him] _no harm_.
Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746
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A few weeks ago she was taken ill, and in her ill*
Gleanings of the Vintage, Or Letters to the Spiritual Edification of the ... 1813
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What w ill thc}/anivver; if a defpcrate and a ftarving people, a licentious and an ill* paid foidicry tired with plundering and with deftroying each other fhould unite in requiring reaibn of them, as of the au - thors of all their evils?
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The referendums Note how the pro-KMT China Post puts the term ill-gotten in quotes are aimed at popular topics -- support for entry into the UN is strong, and the stolen assets of the KMT are a major issue for Greens.
Referendums Redux Michael Turton 2007
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But "usual" seems a term ill-applied to Russian-Western relations in recent years, as well as one unlikely to get much use in the months and years to come.
The Price of Doing 2008
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A human embryo is not the same as a human being: what you call ill-defined terminology is clearly well-defined at the extremes we are talking about here.
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The Board was especially critical of what it termed ill-advised and intemperate threats of jail imprisonment allegedly made by one Albemarle County official
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After dinner that evening Paul bewailed what he called his ill luck.
Behind the line A story of college life and football Ralph Henry Barbour 1907
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Much pride had the veteran when he showed the sleek cattle, the cackling poultry-yard, and the tall stacks of hay; only he growled bitterly over what he termed the ill-timed leniency of his young patron in releasing the slaves in the chain-gang.
A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. William Stearns Davis 1903
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I can account for his conduct only by attributing it to that which we call ill-conditioned: I had to expel him from the house.
The Last Journals of David Livingstone from 1865 to His Death Ed 1874
uselessness commented on the word ill
A word that surely could only have come to mean cool by one tragic happenstance: when all the world's linguists and lexicographers suddenly decided to take a bathroom break at the same time. A highly improbable coinkydink that they all quickly apologized for, but it was too late. The damage caused by that brief, seemingly harmless event, is irreversible.
Many language scholars lost their jobs in the wake of the travesty; it's rumored that most fled to Wordie in a desperate attempt to escape their sorrows. Today they work mostly as unskilled laborers in agricultural and civil service positions but must remain anonymous online or risk reopening those painful old wounds.
All we ask is for forgiveness.
May 11, 2007
mollusque commented on the word ill
Interlibrary loan.
July 25, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word ill
Really? That's ill!
November 3, 2008