ill-mannered
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Ferrigan said that a local official’s choice not to lower flags after a president’s executive directive might be seen as somewhat ill-mannered but wouldn’t be breaking any rules.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 17, 2025
Writing on Instagram in November, singer Sir Rod Stewart described Wallace as an "ill-mannered bully", and said the presenter "humiliated" his wife Penny Lancaster when she was on Masterchef in 2021.
From BBC • Apr. 25, 2025
Mason called her “the most selfish, ill-mannered, inconsiderate actress that I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with,” according to a report in Newsweek.
From Washington Post • Feb. 15, 2023
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
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.
