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ill

Syllabification: (ill)
Pronunciation: /il/

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Definition of ill

adjective

  • 1not in full health; sick:her daughter is seriously ill [with submodifier]:a terminally ill patient
  • 2 [attributive] poor in quality:ill judgment dogs the unsuccessful
  • harmful:she had a cup of the same wine and suffered no ill effects
  • hostile:it did give rise to a lot of ill feelings
  • (especially of fortune) not favorable:no one less deserved such ill fortune than McStay

adverb

  • 1 [usually in combination] badly, wrongly, or imperfectly:some of his premises seem ill-chosen it ill becomes one so beautiful to be gloomy
  • unfavorably or unpropitiously:something which boded ill for unwary golfers
  • 2only with difficulty; hardly:she could ill afford the cost of new curtains

noun

  • 1 (as plural noun the ill) people who are ill:a day center for the mentally ill
  • 2 (usually ills) a problem or misfortune:a lengthy work on the ills of society
  • evil; harm:how could I wish him ill?

Phrases

ill at ease

uncomfortable or embarrassed.

speak (or think) ill of

say (or think) something critical about.

Origin:

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

On the punctuation of ill in compound adjectives, see well1 (usage), as the same rules apply.

ill in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of ill in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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