Pronunciations (2)
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/ɪl/
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ɪl
Adjective
Evil; wicked (of people).
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.
A man who is conscious of having an ill character, cannot justly be angry with those who neglect and slight him.
Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy.
Usage- Archaic
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‘Go bring her. It is ill to keep a lady waiting.’
Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel.
- Examples
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He suffered from ill treatment.
Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.
- Examples
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ill manners; ill will
More examples (1)
[…]his lordship was out of humour. That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve. Stiff-rumped, that's what he was, always rubbing the rust, or riding grub, like he had been for months past.
Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick.
- Examples
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mentally ill people
I've been ill with the flu for the past few days.
More examples (2)
Sue made herself ill through overwork.
“We desperately needed the nursing support because our ICUs are so inundated with critically ill Covid patients,” Brown said.
Nauseated; having an urge to vomit.
- Examples
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Seeing those pictures made me ill.
Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
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This is the illest beat I've ever heard.
Biggie Smalls is the illest / Your style is played out, like Arnold wonderin "Whatchu talkin bout, Willis?"
Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
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That band was ill.
Unwise; not a good idea.
Usage- Dated
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Oh that when the devil and flesh entice the sinner to sport with and make a mock of sin, Prov. x. 23, he would but consider, it is ill jesting with edged tools, it is ill jesting with unquenchable burnings; […]
They arrested everybody—and it is ill to resist a drunken Tommy with a loaded rifle!
Bad-tempered.
Usage- Appalachia
Adverb
Not well; imperfectly, badly
- Synonyms
- Examples
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Such jealousy ill becomes her; she can ill afford another gaffe like that.
He would have conversed as usual; but his attempts were so ill seconded, that he was fain to take refuge in the letters that lay beside him.
More examples (4)
Within, I found it, as I had expected, transcendently dismal. The slowly changing shadows waved on it from the heavy trees, were doleful in the last degree; the house was ill-placed, ill-built, ill-planned, and ill-fitted.
In both groups, however, we find copious and intricate speciation so that, often, species limits are narrow and ill defined.
His inflexibility and blindness ill become a leader, for a leader must temper justice with mercy.
Is it because this supposes an undifferentiated violence towards others and oneself that I could ill imagine in a woman?
Noun
Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Music won't solve all the world's ills, but it can make them easier to bear.
That makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of.
More examples (1)
Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
Harm or injury.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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I wouldn't want you to do me ill.
Loue worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore loue is the fulfilling of the Law.
Evil; moral wrongfulness.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still, / Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill.
A physical ailment; an illness.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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I am incapacitated by rheumatism and other ills.
PCP, phencyclidine.
Usage- US usage
- Slang
- Uncountable
Verb
To behave aggressively.
Usage- Dated
- Intransitive
- Slang
- Examples
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D.M.C.: You been illin' lately. Run: So, I'm illin'. Am I illin'? Chillin'! You know what I'm sayin'? Chillin'.
More examples (1)
1989, Rob'n'Raz feat. Leila K, Got to Get Step back, relax, and chill as I thrill / The K is back, I'm not here to ill / Layin' knowledge through the mic / Hype with a beat like this for your delight
Adjective
affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
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ill from the monotony of his suffering
resulting in suffering or adversity
- Examples
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ill effects
it's an ill wind that blows no good
distressing
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ill manners
of ill repute
indicating hostility or enmity
- Examples
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you certainly did me an ill turn
ill feelings
More examples (1)
ill will
presaging ill fortune
- Synonyms
- Examples
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ill omens
ill predictions
More examples (2)
a dead and ominous silence prevailed
a by-election at a time highly unpropitious for the Government
Noun
an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
Adverb
(‘ill’ is often used as a combining form) in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner; not well
- Antonyms
- Examples
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he was ill prepared
it ill befits a man to betray old friends
More examples (5)
the car runs badly
he performed badly on the exam
the team played poorly
ill-fitting clothes
an ill-conceived plan
unfavorably or with disapproval
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
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tried not to speak ill of the dead
thought badly of him for his lack of concern
with difficulty or inconvenience; scarcely or hardly
- Examples
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we can ill afford to buy a new car just now