ill-timed
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of ill-timed
First recorded in 1685–95
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.
It was this history, and an ill-timed price cut by the Seven Sisters in 1959, that gave impetus to OPEC.
From Barron's • May 7, 2026
Economist Ed Yardeni dubbed this the “front-cover curse” — when financial magazines publish ill-timed covers that in hindsight mark peak optimism or pessimism.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 6, 2026
But dwelling too long on that can foster misplaced faith and ill-timed complacency.
From Slate • Jan. 6, 2026
Because reservoirs need to leave some room in the winter for flood mitigation, they aren’t always able to capture all this ill-timed runoff, he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 24, 2025
If a lifetime as the son of the fighter pilot had taught him one thing, it was that he knew instinctively the meaning of this ill-timed visitation: This was a promenade of ruin.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
