ill-advised
Americanadjective
adjective
-
acting without reasonable care or thought
you would be ill-advised to sell your house now
-
badly thought out; not or insufficiently considered
an ill-advised plan of action
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ill-advised
First recorded in 1585–95
Explanation
An ill-advised decision is one that isn't smart or thoughtful. It would be ill-advised to adopt all the dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs from your local animal shelter — especially without consulting your family members first. This adjective is basically a polite way to say "just plain stupid." Political commentators may judiciously criticize a policy decision as ill-advised if they think it's a bad idea. Your mom might respond to your brother's request to let his pet chicken sleep in bed with him by calmly saying, "That would be ill-advised." The word implies that you've been given bad advice, which may be true, but it's generally your own recklessness that leads you to do something ill-advised.
Vocabulary lists containing ill-advised
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.
Kobbie Mainoo: Caught in possession on too many occasions, even if the passes he was receiving inside his own half were ill-advised.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Morton, however, says Charles was ill-advised to rebut the claims, as it simply further fanned the hype around the memoir.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
"Given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don't feel pressure on that," Altman told Fortune business magazine on Friday.
From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026
“This ill-advised partnership was a blatant move to grab short-term revenue growth through channel expansion,” he continued.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026
The Kane family of Philadelphia was among many who lost large sums due to ill-advised investments.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
