ILL

ill, inauspicious, ominous

(adjective) presaging ill fortune; “ill omens”; “ill predictions”; “my words with inauspicious thunderings shook heaven”- P.B.Shelley; “a dead and ominous silence prevailed”; “a by-election at a time highly unpropitious for the Government”

ill

(adjective) distressing; “ill manners”; “of ill repute”

ill

(adjective) resulting in suffering or adversity; “ill effects”; “it’s an ill wind that blows no good”

ill

(adjective) indicating hostility or enmity; “you certainly did me an ill turn”; “ill feelings”; “ill will”

ill, sick

(adjective) affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function; “ill from the monotony of his suffering”

ill, badly, poorly

(adverb) (‘ill’ is often used as a combining form) in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner; not well; “he was ill prepared”; “it ill befits a man to betray old friends”; “the car runs badly”; “he performed badly on the exam”; “the team played poorly”; “ill-fitting clothes”; “an ill-conceived plan”

ill

(adverb) with difficulty or inconvenience; scarcely or hardly; “we can ill afford to buy a new car just now”

ill, badly

(adverb) unfavorably or with disapproval; “tried not to speak ill of the dead”; “thought badly of him for his lack of concern”

ailment, complaint, ill

(noun) an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

ill (comparative worse or iller or more ill, superlative most ill or worst or illest)

(obsolete) Evil; wicked (of people). [13th-19th c.]

(archaic) Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy. [from 13th c.]

Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel. [from 14th c.]

Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.

Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick. [from 15th c.]

Having an urge to vomit. [from 20th c.]

(hip-hop slang) Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way.

(slang) Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be.

(dated) Unwise; not a good idea.

Usage notes

• The comparative worse and superlative worst are the standard forms. The forms iller and illest are also used in American English, but are less than a quarter as frequent as "more" and "most" forms. The forms iller, illest are quite common in the slang sense "sublime".

Synonyms

• (suffering from a disease): diseased, poorly (UK), sick, under the weather (informal), unwell

• (having an urge to vomit): disgusted, nauseated, nauseous, sick, sickened

• (bad): bad, mal-

• (in hip-hop slang: sublime): dope

• See also diseased

Antonyms

• (suffering from a disease): fine, hale, healthy, in good health, well

• (bad): good

• (in hip-hop slang: sublime): wack

Adverb

ill (comparative worse or more ill, superlative most ill or worst)

Not well; imperfectly, badly; hardly.

Synonyms

• illy

Antonyms

• well

Noun

ill (countable and uncountable, plural ills)

(often pluralized) Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity.

Harm or injury.

Evil; moral wrongfulness.

A physical ailment; an illness.

(US, slang, uncountable) PCP, phencyclidine.

Anagrams

• Lil, li'l, li'l', lil

Source: Wiktionary

Ill, a. [The regular comparative and superlative are wanting, their places being supplied by worse ( and worst (, from another root.] Etym: [OE. ill, ille, Icel. illr; akin to Sw. illa, adv., Dan. ilde, adv.]

1. Contrary to good, in a physical sense; contrary or opposed to advantage, happiness, etc.; bad; evil; unfortunate; disagreeable; unfavorable. Neither is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but ill ways, ill markets, and ill neighbors. Bacon. There 's some ill planet reigns. Shak.

2. Contrary to good, in a moral sense; evil; wicked; wrong; iniquitious; naughtly; bad; improper. Of his own body he was ill, and gave The clergy ill example. Shak.

3. Sick; indisposed; unwell; diseased; disordered; as, ill of a fever. I am in health, I breathe, and see thee ill. Shak.

4. Not according with rule, fitness, or propriety; incorrect; rude; unpolished; inelegant. That 's an ill phrase. Shak. Ill at ease, uneasy; uncomfortable; anxious. "I am very ill at ease." Shak.

– Ill blood, enmity; resentment.

– Ill breeding, want of good breeding; rudeness.

– Ill fame, ill or bad repute; as, a house of ill fame, a house where lewd persons meet for illicit intercourse.

– Ill humor, a disagreeable mood; bad temper.

– Ill nature, bad disposition or temperament; sullenness; esp., a disposition to cause unhappiness to others.

– Ill temper, anger; moroseness; crossness.

– Ill turn. (a) An unkind act. (b) A slight attack of illness. [Colloq. U.S.] -- Ill will, unkindness; enmity; malevolence.

Syn.

– Bad; evil; wrong; wicked; sick; unwell.

Ill, n.

1. Whatever annoys or impairs happiness, or prevents success; evil of any kind; misfortune; calamity; disease; pain; as, the ills of humanity. Who can all sense of others' ills escape Is but a brute at best in human shape. Tate. That makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of. Shak.

2. Whatever is contrary to good, in a moral sense; wickedness; depravity; iniquity; wrong; evil. Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still, Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill. Dryden.

Ill, adv.

Definition: In a ill manner; badly; weakly. How ill this taper burns! Shak. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. Goldsmith.

Note: Ill, like above, well, and so, is used before many participal adjectives, in its usual adverbal sense. When the two words are used as an epithet preceding the noun qualified they are commonly hyphened; in other cases they are written separatively; as, an ill- educated man; he was ill educated; an ill-formed plan; the plan, however ill formed, was acceptable. Ao, also, the following: ill- affected or ill affected, ill-arranged or ill arranged, ill-assorted or ill assorted, ill-boding or ill boding, ill-bred or ill bred, ill- conditioned, ill-conducted, ill-considered, ill-devised, ill- disposed, ill-doing, ill-fairing, ill-fated, ill-favored, ill- featured, ill-formed, ill-gotten, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill- looking, ill-mannered, ill-matched, ill-meaning, ill-minded, ill- natured, ill-omened, ill-proportioned, ill-provided, ill-required, ill-sorted, ill-starred, ill-tempered, ill-timed, ill-trained, ill- used, and the like.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

ILL

Etymology

Adjective

Usage notes

Synonyms

Antonyms

Adverb

Synonyms

Antonyms

Noun

Anagrams

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