ill-received

adjective

Poorly received; not enjoying the positive reception expected.

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Meanings

adjectiveill-received (comparative more ill-received, superlative most ill-received)

comparative more ill-received · superlative most ill-received

  1. Poorly received; not enjoying the positive reception expected.

    President Clinton's campaign of contrition began in his ill-received Aug. 17 expression of regret.

    2012, William Safire, “On Language; Stop Me Before I Apologize Again”, in New York Times
    2 more examples

    The Human Stain tells the tale of Coleman Silk, a classics tutor at a fictional Massachusetts college, whose life spirals into chaos after he makes an ill-received remark judged by some as a racial slur.

    2012, “Author Roth rebukes Wikipedia over Human Stain edit”, in BBC News, BBC

    Being one day ill-received, he left off his visits: Rousseau met him afterwards in the street, and asked him why he did not come.

    1843, J. Russell, The Causes of the French Revolution, A. & R. Spottiswoode, page 165
Cite this entry
APA

ill-received. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ill-received

MLA

“ill-received.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ill-received. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ill-received,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ill-received.

Source: ill-received on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.