ill
adjective
ill
1 American
[il]
/ ɪl /
adjective
worse,
worst,
iller,
illest
-
of unsound physical or mental health; unwell; sick.
She felt ill, so her teacher sent her to the nurse.
-
objectionable; unsatisfactory; poor; faulty.
ill manners.
-
ill feeling.
-
of ill repute.
- Synonyms:
- iniquitous, wrong
- Antonyms:
- good
-
ill fortune.
-
of inferior worth or ability; unskillful; inexpert.
an ill example of scholarship.
-
His mom is the illest cook.
noun
-
ills
plural
-
an unfavorable opinion or statement.
I can speak no ill of her.
-
harm or injury.
His remarks did much ill.
- Synonyms:
- misery, affliction, pain, hurt
-
trouble, distress, or misfortune.
Many ills befell him.
- Synonyms:
- calamity
-
evil.
to know the difference between good and ill.
- Synonyms:
- depravity
-
sickness or disease.
- Synonyms:
- affliction, illness
adverb
-
in an ill manner.
-
unsatisfactorily; poorly.
It ill befits a man to betray old friends.
-
in a hostile or unfriendly manner.
-
unfavorably; unfortunately.
-
with displeasure or offense.
-
faultily; improperly.
-
with difficulty or inconvenience; scarcely.
Buying a new car is an expense we can ill afford.
idioms
I'll
2
American
[ahyl]
/ aɪl /
ill.
3
American
abbreviation
-
illustrated.
-
illustration.
-
illustrator.
-
most illustrious.
Ill.
4
American
abbreviation
ill
1
British
/ ɪl /
adjective
-
(usually postpositive) not in good health; sick
-
characterized by or intending evil, harm, etc; hostile
ill deeds
-
causing or resulting in pain, harm, adversity, etc
ill effects
-
ascribing or imputing evil to something referred to
ill repute
-
promising an unfavourable outcome; unpropitious
an ill omen
-
harsh; lacking kindness
ill will
-
not up to an acceptable standard; faulty
ill manners
-
unable to relax; uncomfortable
noun
-
evil or harm
to wish a person ill
-
a mild disease
-
misfortune; trouble
adverb
-
badly
the title ill befits him
-
with difficulty; hardly
he can ill afford the money
-
not rightly
she ill deserves such good fortune
Ill.
2
British
abbreviation
I'll
3
British
/ aɪl /
contraction
ill
More Idioms
Grammar
See well 1.
Usage
What are other ways to say ill? The adjective ill is defined as “evil; wicked; bad.” However, it’s not used in exactly the same way as any of those synonyms! Learn the difference among these terms on Thesaurus.com.
Synonym Usage
Ill, sick mean being in bad health, not being well. Ill is the more formal word. In the U. S. the two words are used practically interchangeably except that sick is always used when the word modifies the following noun: He looks sick ( ill ); a sick person. In England, sick is not interchangeable with ill, but usually has the connotation of nauseous: She got sick and threw up. sick, however, is used before nouns just as in the U. S.: a sick man.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ill1
1150–1200; Middle English ill ( e ) (noun and adj.) < Old Norse illr (adj.) ill, bad
Origin of ill.3
ill. ( def. 4 ) < Latin illustrissimus
Explanation
If you're ill, you're unwell, or sick. Being ill is a good excuse for missing work or school. You might get ill after being sneezed on by someone with a cold; or eating street food in a foreign country; or for no reason that you can point to. People can be mentally ill as well as physically ill, from depression or anxiety among other ailments. Ill can also mean "bad" in various ways, including when you suffer ill effects from going too long without sleep, or exercise ill judgment when you buy $500 worth of lottery tickets.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ian Varley, 75, said he stopped to drink at every station and did not fall ill, though he saw one woman vomiting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2026
He did not mention to them he was ill, nor did he tell them he was working elsewhere.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026
Five years later, the boy is played by Jackie Coogan and they are a team whose harmony is interrupted when the child becomes ill and mother re-enters the picture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2026
What’s the use of punishing a terminally ill man?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
If Marina knew that someone’s child had fallen ill, she’d find a way to send medication and, on occasion, an air ambulance.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
“Maybe next time I’ll try the other approach: I’ll board whenever I feel like it and drop my suitcase in the first open slot I see.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026
Like much of my generation, I’ll vote for whoever can make life here stable and affordable again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
“Although at 31, I guess I got to choose which war I’ll be reading about for the rest of my life.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2026
Or as Mike put it: "I loved the original as much as the next person, but I don't think I'll be going back to it."
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026
“Well, young man, I’m sure I’ll find an older man to swindle. Other land to claim. I’m tired of this journey. Thought you’d be an easy mark.”
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
"She then cancelled the wedding saying she was ill. But I was 50 that year so my partner and I still wanted to go to Turkey."
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
"He was critically ill. His heart stopped as soon as he arrived. We had to perform CPR," said lead author Ankit Bharat, a thoracic surgeon at Northwestern University.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 18, 2026
"He's soldiered on for a while but now he's critically ill. We need to get his temperature and oxygen levels up fast."
From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2025
"Tatler, you should be ashamed putting this on the cover. A child would have done a better job. I’m so angry you've done this whilst she is so ill. Shame on you."
From Salon ● May 23, 2024
“Beowulf is also ill. He claims to have a headache in his leg.”
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Rivian produced 19,751 vehicles at its facility in Normal, Ill., and delivered 19,248 vehicles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
The thinking was different for its new location in Wilmette, Ill., situated across from a CVS pharmacy and down the road from a Jewel-Osco supermarket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
In June, real-estate investor Justin Smith closed on a duplex in Roscoe, Ill. — about 90 miles west of Chicago — for $250,000.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2026
While the original location closed in 2020, there are still locations in Oakbrook, Ill., and Pittsburgh.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
I was born on March 9, 1943 in Chicago, Ill. U.S.A.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Pawlikowski has said that he keeps returning to the past in his films because addressing our modern ills directly would be too daunting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Like the Tech Right, these men see noble masculinity as the solution to most of society’s ills.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
Time, perhaps, to question whether he's got the answers to the myriad ills of his team.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
What drives societal ills or ignites a social movement?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
The vice president of the Durham Merchants Association complained, with some justification, that the business community was being blamed for all of Durham’s ills.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
"If you have a generally iller population, that's not good for the residents, it's not good for productivity, it's not good for the economy.'"
From BBC ● May 25, 2023
This gave him an unnatural appearance and made him look iller than ever.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 30, 2019
He got iller and iller and iller, and of course he died in the beginning of 2015 when some of the other things had started appearing in the press.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2016
Last year began with my being ill, kept on with my being iller, then I was unwell, followed by being poorly with a tiny interlude of infirmity.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 15, 2012
‘You’re sorry that we are not any iller, aren’t you, Dr. Hurst?’ she remarked.
From The Youngest Girl in the School by Evelyn Sharp
The Black neighborhoods like Baldwin Hills Estates, Ladera Heights and View Park all sit hillside with some of the illest views in the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
His wife was told she should prepare for the worst, with staff describing her husband as "one of the illest people they'd ever seen".
From BBC ● May 21, 2024
Rapper Travis Scott told his nearly 12 million followers on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, that Monday “might be one for the illest days in women’s sports historyyyyyyy.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
It’s one of the illest, if not the illest Caribbean food spots in the city.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 22, 2022
A lingring death maye auaile my soule, but it is the illest of ills that can befortune my bodie.
From The Vnfortunate Traveller, or The Life Of Jack Wilton With An Essay On The Life And Writings Of Thomas Nash By Edmund Gosse by Edmund Gosse
It looked as though things were getting worse for Svitolina when she took a medical timeout for a right hip injury after losing the first set, before finding herself an early break point down.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2026
“You just said that as if my superpower is way worse than yours,” Mollica interjects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026
My lies felt somehow worse than if I’d cheated.
From Slate ● Nov. 11, 2026
"This is a huge issue that's only going to keep getting worse," Jasunas told AFP, adding that the experience felt "violating."
From Barron's ● Nov. 11, 2026
‘Something worse than the Nazis being in charge?’
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
They were trading at $175.85 midday Wednesday, up more than 4%, after suffering their worst five-day performance since September 2022 through Tuesday’s close.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2026
In areas that had escaped the worst damage, testing identified an underlying silver and copper alloy.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2026
Harvey was best known for his satirical column “The Bottom 10,” a ranking of the worst college football teams, which he started in 1965 while at USC and which is now imitated by ESPN.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026
"It's very hard for me. I thought I was getting into a marriage and instead I got into my worst nightmare," she said.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026
The worst part was seeing people with ugly whitish scars.
From "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr
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