ill-defined
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of ill-defined
First recorded in 1865–70
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.
The space was dark, ill defined, the edges fading into misty nothingness — the antithesis of the sharply defined spaces my friend preferred.
From Nature • Jul. 21, 2020
Size-distributions of pandemics, floods, forest fires, earthquakes, wars, terrorist attacks, crimes and IT investments, e.g., have no population mean, or the mean is ill defined due to infinite variance.
From Salon • Jul. 5, 2020
But little in medicine is as ill defined or as anecdotal as addiction treatment.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 14, 2019
It's about those here legally, with green cards, who commit an offense that is ill defined.
From New York Times • Apr. 17, 2018
Nevertheless, an ill defined, yet none the less real, fear was steadily taking possession of me.
From A Cabinet Secret by Boothby, Guy Newell
Definitions 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.
