ill
adjective
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illly.
ill
1 American
[il]
/ ɪl /
adjective
worse,
worst,
iller,
illest
-
of unsound physical or mental health; unwell; sick.
She felt ill, so her teacher sent her to the nurse.
-
objectionable; unsatisfactory; poor; faulty.
ill manners.
-
ill feeling.
-
of ill repute.
- Synonyms:
- iniquitous, wrong
- Antonyms:
- good
-
ill fortune.
-
of inferior worth or ability; unskillful; inexpert.
an ill example of scholarship.
-
His mom is the illest cook.
noun
-
ills
plural
-
an unfavorable opinion or statement.
I can speak no ill of her.
-
harm or injury.
His remarks did much ill.
- Synonyms:
- misery, affliction, pain, hurt
-
trouble, distress, or misfortune.
Many ills befell him.
- Synonyms:
- calamity
-
evil.
to know the difference between good and ill.
- Synonyms:
- depravity
-
sickness or disease.
- Synonyms:
- affliction, illness
adverb
-
in an ill manner.
-
unsatisfactorily; poorly.
It ill befits a man to betray old friends.
-
in a hostile or unfriendly manner.
-
unfavorably; unfortunately.
-
with displeasure or offense.
-
faultily; improperly.
-
with difficulty or inconvenience; scarcely.
Buying a new car is an expense we can ill afford.
idioms
I'll
2
American
[ahyl]
/ aɪl /
ill.
3
American
abbreviation
-
illustrated.
-
illustration.
-
illustrator.
-
most illustrious.
Ill.
4
American
abbreviation
ill
1
British
/ ɪl /
adjective
-
(usually postpositive) not in good health; sick
-
characterized by or intending evil, harm, etc; hostile
ill deeds
-
causing or resulting in pain, harm, adversity, etc
ill effects
-
ascribing or imputing evil to something referred to
ill repute
-
promising an unfavourable outcome; unpropitious
an ill omen
-
harsh; lacking kindness
ill will
-
not up to an acceptable standard; faulty
ill manners
-
unable to relax; uncomfortable
noun
-
evil or harm
to wish a person ill
-
a mild disease
-
misfortune; trouble
adverb
-
badly
the title ill befits him
-
with difficulty; hardly
he can ill afford the money
-
not rightly
she ill deserves such good fortune
Ill.
2
British
abbreviation
I'll
3
British
/ aɪl /
contraction
ill
More Idioms
Grammar
See well 1.
Usage
What are other ways to say ill? The adjective ill is defined as “evil; wicked; bad.” However, it’s not used in exactly the same way as any of those synonyms! Learn the difference among these terms on Thesaurus.com.
Synonym Usage
Ill, sick mean being in bad health, not being well. Ill is the more formal word. In the U. S. the two words are used practically interchangeably except that sick is always used when the word modifies the following noun: He looks sick ( ill ); a sick person. In England, sick is not interchangeable with ill, but usually has the connotation of nauseous: She got sick and threw up. sick, however, is used before nouns just as in the U. S.: a sick man.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ill1
1150–1200; Middle English ill ( e ) (noun and adj.) < Old Norse illr (adj.) ill, bad
Origin of ill.3
ill. ( def. 4 ) < Latin illustrissimus
Explanation
If you're ill, you're unwell, or sick. Being ill is a good excuse for missing work or school. You might get ill after being sneezed on by someone with a cold; or eating street food in a foreign country; or for no reason that you can point to. People can be mentally ill as well as physically ill, from depression or anxiety among other ailments. Ill can also mean "bad" in various ways, including when you suffer ill effects from going too long without sleep, or exercise ill judgment when you buy $500 worth of lottery tickets.
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.
See Examples For:
Mr. Blyth exudes a bland wholesomeness that’s an ill fit for the cynicism and cocky humor that define his character.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Care for an ill person under 40 was particularly high — $4,700 more per year than the out-of-pocket average.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
She said the reasons people might reach out to the appeal included unemployment, ill health and the general high cost of living.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
"For example, my wife's mother, who is 90 years old and lives in the area, had to be carried out because she is ill," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026
Even if it was because her partner was chronically ill and that meant she’d have to share credit.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
"I'll face up to things, explain, elucidate," he countered.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
I’ll bet you had a doll with no head on it.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
“I plan to play after work, but I’ll play while I’m ‘working,’ too, since I work from home,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2026
So I’ll watch the sunrise, catch up on the news and do a little bit of doomscrolling to my detriment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
“I said I’ll mention you. Shift ends at seven. I’ll do it by then.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"He was critically ill. His heart stopped as soon as he arrived. We had to perform CPR," said lead author Ankit Bharat, a thoracic surgeon at Northwestern University.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 18, 2026
She said: "It was a shock because my father was always a big, strong man, so he was never ill. He never used to take time off sick from work."
From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2025
But speaking to BBC News, Lord Falconer said: "The Commons has decided that there should be assisted dying as an option for those who are terminally ill. We should respect that decision."
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2025
“I walked into the facility healthy and feeling fine, and within 24 hours I became severely ill. I had severe burning in my face, tremors, twitching; I felt like I was being electrocuted.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2025
“Fine, fine. I do not wish your mother ill. But why must we wait?”
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Rivian produced 19,751 vehicles at its facility in Normal, Ill., and delivered 19,248 vehicles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
Nadeau, who lives in Belleville, Ill., wound up buying the hard drive at the lower price his wife found using her phone, but he was alarmed by the experience.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
When Dylan Wagner bought his first home in Naperville, Ill., in 2022, a mortgage broker suggested he apply for an ARM instead of a fixed-rate loan because it would make his monthly payments more affordable.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Impossible Objects, an industrial-scale 3-D printing company operating in Northbrook, Ill., and Rochester, N.Y., secured $40 million in Series B funding led by Inflection Equity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
I was born on March 9, 1943 in Chicago, Ill. U.S.A.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Pawlikowski has said that he keeps returning to the past in his films because addressing our modern ills directly would be too daunting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Warnings against job losses and other social ills have intensified lately.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
As Dan Kois illustrates in this ode to kicking back with friends, spending unstructured time together is a blessedly simple cure to the ills of modern life.
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026
As Norway advance, is Wright correct about Scottish football's ills?
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
And thus anyone who does not diagnose the ills when they arise in a principality is not really wise, and this talent is given to few men.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
"If you have a generally iller population, that's not good for the residents, it's not good for productivity, it's not good for the economy.'"
From BBC ● May 25, 2023
This gave him an unnatural appearance and made him look iller than ever.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 30, 2019
He got iller and iller and iller, and of course he died in the beginning of 2015 when some of the other things had started appearing in the press.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2016
Last year began with my being ill, kept on with my being iller, then I was unwell, followed by being poorly with a tiny interlude of infirmity.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 15, 2012
“I shall be weaker and iller ever so much, sir, if I stop here,” said the boatswain.
From Syd Belton The Boy who would not go to Sea by Gordon Browne
The Black neighborhoods like Baldwin Hills Estates, Ladera Heights and View Park all sit hillside with some of the illest views in the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
His wife was told she should prepare for the worst, with staff describing her husband as "one of the illest people they'd ever seen".
From BBC ● May 21, 2024
Rapper Travis Scott told his nearly 12 million followers on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, that Monday “might be one for the illest days in women’s sports historyyyyyyy.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
Blaze is just one of the illest low heads.
From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2021
Not knowing is worse than the very illest news.
From Grey Town An Australian Story by Gerald Baldwin
Nobody knows for sure what will happen next in the Middle East – and whether things could get worse before they get better.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
Intel had an even worse day than Google, with the chip-maker’s stock price plunging 29% on Friday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
So could the next attack be worse than what’s come before?
From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2026
"Occupation, liberation, bombardments… honestly, how could it be worse? We've already seen it all."
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
I patted him on the head and said, “You’d better take care of yourself, boy. You’re in worse shape than I am.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
It is now nine games in all competitions since Carrick's side won, their worst run since 1988-89.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
“That was our worst fear and now it’s happening,” she said.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2026
Traders punished the stock with a 13% decline Thursday that marked its worst day on record, hammering major Alphabet shareholders such as Berkshire Hathaway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Intel had one of its worst days on the market.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
Knowing it was the worst thing to do, Renn leaned forward and peered through the gap.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
