ill-considered
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of ill-considered
First recorded in 1825–35
Explanation
When something is ill-considered, it hasn't been carefully thought through, like your cousin's ill-considered idea to adopt six rabbits and let them run loose around his house. The adjective ill-considered describes decisions that are made impulsively, without enough contemplation of the pros and cons. Marrying someone the day after you met them would be ill-considered, and so would jumping off the garage roof into a pile of leaves while holding an umbrella to slow your descent. If you stopped and considered the possible consequences, you'd probably make a different choice!
Vocabulary lists containing ill-considered
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.
He shows us that ill-considered regulation may be counterproductive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
We are granted only so many vacations in this life, and it might seem ill-considered to spend one of them watching the Blue Man Group in an Egyptian-themed hotel in the Nevadan desert.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025
They dedicate enormous time and resources to sending a reporter to Brown University to stick a microphone in a 19-year-old's face, so they'll say a slightly ill-considered thing.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2024
"We all know January is the worst month for retail - this is an ill-judged, ill-considered campaign at the worst possible time."
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2024
She was a child of the working class who, through ill-considered choices and circumstance, slipped into the welfare class and had to fight her way out.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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.
