ill-equipped
Americanadjective
-
badly or inadequately equipped.
an ill-equipped army.
-
ill-prepared.
a student ill-equipped to begin calculus.
Etymology
Origin of ill-equipped
First recorded in 1955–60
Explanation
Someone or something that's ill-equipped isn't suited or prepared to do a certain task. If you faint at the sight of blood, you're probably ill-equipped to be a surgeon. Soldiers without weapons or armor are ill-equipped for battle, and if you don't have an umbrella or a raincoat, you're ill-equipped for walking to school in the pouring rain. You might also be emotionally or temperamentally ill-equipped. If you are afraid of heights, you are most likely ill-equipped to be a roofer. When someone's equipped, they have the proper equipment, and when you add the prefix ill-, it's clear they're lacking what they need.
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.
Even the most privileged among us occasionally find ourselves adrift and ill-equipped to deal with our own capsized lives.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
He claimed Dale was "ill-equipped" for the prison environment and more vulnerable than others.
From BBC • Jan. 20, 2026
After two decades of nearly flat demand, it’s ill-equipped to handle the massive needs of data centers, which now consume 5% of the nation’s total power.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 17, 2026
As three other officers arrived, they realized how ill-equipped they were: None of them had a rifle, one had no body armor.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 2, 2025
The Turks were also fighting the Russians in the wild mountains of the Caucasus, where an ill-equipped Turkish army suffered severely as the opposing sides struck at each other again and again.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
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.
