ill-mannered

American  

[il-man-erd] / ˈɪlˈmæn ərd /

adjective

1. having bad or poor manners; impolite; discourteous; rude.

   Synonyms:

   uncivil, crude, unpolished

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ill-mannered British  

adjective

1. having bad manners; rude; impolite

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Other Word Forms

• ill-manneredly adverb
• ill-manneredness noun

Etymology

Origin of ill-mannered

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at ill, mannered

Explanation

Someone who's ill-mannered is rude. It would be ill-mannered to show up an hour late to your cousin's wedding reception with a carful of your (uninvited) friends. If you act in an impolite, ungracious, or discourteous way, you'll be thought of as ill-mannered. It's ill-mannered to cut in front of people in line, to take a subway seat where an elderly person was getting ready to sit, or to invite everyone in your class except one person to your birthday party. Ill-mannered adds the prefix ill-, "badly," to mannered, "having manners," from manner, "way of doing things."

Example Sentences

The accompanying photo portraits are mostly hideous, in Ms. Wiles’s case also ill-mannered and unkind.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025

He is especially winning when he barely skirts the sentimental or ill-mannered.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2025

Customer > Cupstomper: An ill-mannered Starbucks patron who throws a tanty when mistakenly served a latte instead of a mocha.

From Washington Post • Jun. 30, 2022

Rome has tried for years to get ill-mannered tourists to behave.

From New York Times • Aug. 7, 2019

But they were shut out, listening at a door to words not meant for them: ill-mannered children or stupid servants overhearing the elusive discourse of their elders, and wondering how it would affect their lot.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien