ail

[eyl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ail ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to cause pain, uneasiness, or trouble to.

verb (used without object)

to be unwell; feel pain; be ill: He's been ailing for some time.

Nearby words

Origin of ail

before 950; Middle English ail, eilen, Old English eglan to afflict (cognate with Middle Low German egelen annoy, Gothic -agljan), derivative of egle painful; akin to Gothic agls shameful, Sanskrit aghám evil, pain

SYNONYMS FOR ail

1. bother, annoy, distress.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ail ON THESAURUS.COM

Can be confusedale ail awl

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ailed

It would be impossible to cure all that ailed the GOP in the course of a single calendar year.
GOP Report Turns One—Is it Worth Celebrating?|Kristen Soltis Anderson|March 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Her hysterical caresses awakened him and the little fellow could not understand what ailed his mother.
Bengal Dacoits and Tigers|Maharanee Sunity Devee
Margery wondered what ailed them, till she remembered about John's "wood-collecting" evidence, and blushed suddenly at her folly.
The House by the River|A. P. Herbert
Then Gunnar besought her to be comforted and to show what ailed her, but for a long while he might win no word in answer.
The Story of Sigurd the Volsung|William Morris

The locksmith's wife knew better perhaps, than he, what ailed her daughter.
Barnaby Rudge|Charles Dickens
I always told you that not having enough of sunshine was what ailed the world.
Pearls of Thought|Maturin M. Ballou

British Dictionary definitions for ailed

ail

verb

(tr) to trouble; afflict

(intr) to feel unwell

Word Origin for ail

Old English eglan to trouble, from egle troublesome, painful, related to Gothic agls shameful

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ailed

ail

c.1300, from Old English eglan "to trouble, plague, afflict," from Proto-Germanic *azljaz (cf. Old English egle "hideous, loathsome, troublesome, painful;" Gothic agls "shameful, disgraceful," agliþa "distress, affliction, hardship," us-agljan "to oppress, afflict"), from PIE *agh-lo-, suffixed form of root *agh- "to be depressed, be afraid." Related: Ailed; ailing; ails.

It is remarkable, that this word is never used but with some indefinite term, or the word no thing; as What ails him? ... Thus we never say, a fever ails him. [Johnson]

ail