ill

comparative iller · comparative more ill · superlative illest · superlative most ill

1. obsoleteEvil; wicked (of people).First known use 13th–19th c.

   St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.

   1709 December 6, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon Preached before the Sons of the Clergy, at their Anniversary-Meeting, in the Church of St. Paul

   1 more example

   A man who is conscious of having an ill character, cannot justly be angry with those who neglect and slight him.

   1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC

2. archaicMorally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy.First known use 13th c.

   ‘Go bring her. It is ill to keep a lady waiting.’

   1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 2

3. Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel.First known use 14th c.

   He suffered from ill treatment.

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

   ill manners; ill will

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   […]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.

   1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax

5. Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick.First known use 15th c.

   mentally ill people

   3 more examples

   I've been ill with the flu for the past few days.

   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.

   2021 August 14, Christina Maxouris, “‘Bursting at the seams’: Full ICUs are creating a dangerous ER backlog and forcing hospitals to cancel surgeries”, in CNN

6. Nauseated; having an urge to vomit.First known use 20th c.

   Seeing those pictures made me ill.

   Synonyms: disgusted, nauseated, nauseous, sick, sicken

7. slangdancingSublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way.

   This is the illest beat I've ever heard.

   1 more example

   Biggie Smalls is the illest / Your style is played out, like Arnold wonderin "Whatchu talkin bout, Willis?"

   1994, Biggie Smalls, “The What”

   Synonyms: dope

8. slangExtremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be.

   That band was ill.

9. datedUnwise; not a good idea.

   They arrested everybody—and it is ill to resist a drunken Tommy with a loaded rifle!

   1914, Indian Ink, volume 1, page 32

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   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; […]

   1672, George Swinnock, The Incomparableness of God

10. AppalachiaBad-tempered.

    Synonyms: diseased, poorly, sick, under the weather, unwell, ailing

comparative worse · comparative more ill · superlative worst · superlative most ill

1. Not well; imperfectly, badly

   Such jealousy ill becomes her; she can ill afford another gaffe like that.

   5 more examples

   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.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Proposal of Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 126

   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.

   1859 December 13, Charles Dickens [et al.], “(please specify the name of the story)”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC

   In both groups, however, we find copious and intricate speciation so that, often, species limits are narrow and ill defined.

   1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 3

   His inflexibility and blindness ill become a leader, for a leader must temper justice with mercy.

   1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 541

   Is it because this supposes an undifferentiated violence towards others and oneself that I could ill imagine in a woman?

   2006, Julia Borossa (translator), Monique Canto-Sperber (quoted author), in Libération, 2002 February 2, quoted in Élisabeth Badinter (quoting author), Dead End Feminism, Polity, page 40

   Synonyms: illy

plural ills

1. countableuncountableoften pluralizedTrouble; distress; misfortune; adversity.

   Music won't solve all the world's ills, but it can make them easier to bear.

   2 more examples

   That makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

   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.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

2. countableuncountableHarm or injury.

   I wouldn't want you to do me ill.

   1 more example

   Loue worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore loue is the fulfilling of the Law.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 13:10

3. countableuncountableEvil; moral wrongfulness.

   Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still, / Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill.

   1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number)

4. countableuncountableA physical ailment; an illness.

   I am incapacitated by rheumatism and other ills.

5. USslanguncountablePCP, phencyclidine.

present singular third person ills · participle present illing · participle past illed · past illed

1. datedintransitiveslangTo behave aggressively.

   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

   1 more example

   D.M.C.: You been illin' lately. Run: So, I'm illin'. Am I illin'? Chillin'! You know what I'm sayin'? Chillin'.

   1985, Ralph Farquhar, Krush Groove

plural ILLs

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of interlibrary loan.

1. A river in France, tributary to the Rhine.