ill-fitting
Americanadjective
-
(of a garment) not fitting well.
-
not appropriate or suitable.
Etymology
Origin of ill-fitting
First recorded in 1865–70; ill ( def. ) + fitting ( def. )
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.
For an hour he'd been little more than a keen if ill-fitting presence in the Celtic attack.
From BBC • Jan. 25, 2026
Fuentes is a dweeby kid in an ill-fitting suit, with none of the congenial charms of Joe Rogan or masculine swagger of Andrew Tate.
From Slate • Dec. 5, 2025
And she ordered a dozen ill-fitting vacation outfits on Shein.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025
In others, he’s an imp hiding within an ill-fitting costume of normalcy.
From Salon • Oct. 13, 2025
Guards had dressed him in his ill-fitting prison outfit, which he’d soiled with excrement and urine.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
