ill Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
complaint; ailment.
adjective affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function
sick.
- ill from the monotony of his suffering
adjective satellite resulting in suffering or adversity
- ill effects
- it's an ill wind that blows no good
adjective satellite distressing
- ill manners
- of ill repute
adjective satellite indicating hostility or enmity
- you certainly did me an ill turn
- ill feelings
- ill will
adjective satellite presaging ill fortune
ominous; inauspicious.
- ill omens
- ill predictions
- my words with inauspicious thunderings shook heaven"- P.B.Shelley
- a dead and ominous silence prevailed
- a by-election at a time highly unpropitious for the Government
adverb (`ill' is often used as a combining form) in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner; not well
badly; poorly.
- he was ill prepared
- it ill befits a man to betray old friends
- the car runs badly
- he performed badly on the exam
- the team played poorly
- ill-fitting clothes
- an ill-conceived plan
adverb unfavorably or with disapproval
badly.
- tried not to speak ill of the dead
- thought badly of him for his lack of concern
adverb with difficulty or inconvenience; scarcely or hardly
- we can ill afford to buy a new car just now

OE. ill, ille, Icel. illr; akin to Sw. illa, adv., Dan. ilde, adv.

The regular comparative and superlative are wanting, their places being supplied by worse and worst from another root

Contrary to good, in a physical sense; contrary or opposed to advantage, happiness, etc.; bad; evil; unfortunate; disagreeable; unfavorable.
Neither is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but ill ways, ill markets, and ill neighbors. Bacon.

There 's some ill planet reigns. Shak.
Contrary to good, in a moral sense; evil; wicked; wrong; iniquitious; naughtly; bad; improper.
Of his own body he was ill, and gave The clergy ill example. Shak.
Sick; indisposed; unwell; diseased; disordered; as, ill of a fever.
I am in health, I breathe, and see thee ill. Shak.
Not according with rule, fitness, or propriety; incorrect; rude; unpolished; inelegant.
That 's an ill phrase. Shak.
Syn. -- Bad; evil; wrong; wicked; sick; unwell.

Whatever annoys or impairs happiness, or prevents success; evil of any kind; misfortune; calamity; disease; pain; as, the ills of humanity.
Who can all sense of others' ills escape Is but a brute at best in human shape. Tate.

That makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of. Shak.
Whatever is contrary to good, in a moral sense; wickedness; depravity; iniquity; wrong; evil.
Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still, Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill. Dryden.

In a ill manner; badly; weakly.
How ill this taper burns! Shak.

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. Goldsmith.
✍ Ill, like above, well, and so, is used before many participal adjectives, in its usual adverbal sense. When the two words are used as an epithet preceding the noun qualified they are commonly hyphened; in other cases they are written separatively; as, an ill-educated man; he was ill educated; an ill-formed plan; the plan, however ill formed, was acceptable. Ao, also, the following: ill-affected or ill affected, ill-arranged or ill arranged, ill-assorted or ill assorted, ill-boding or ill boding, ill-bred or ill bred, ill-conditioned, ill-conducted, ill-considered, ill-devised, ill-disposed, ill-doing, ill-fairing, ill-fated, ill-favored, ill-featured, ill-formed, ill-gotten, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill-looking, ill-mannered, ill-matched, ill-meaning, ill-minded, ill-natured, ill-omened, ill-proportioned, ill-provided, ill-required, ill-sorted, ill-starred, ill-tempered, ill-timed, ill-trained, ill-used, and the like.