Meanings
verb
- participlepastsimple past and past participle of ill-use
adjectiveill-used (comparative more ill-used, superlative most ill-used)
comparative more ill-used · superlative most ill-used
- Having been treated badly.
I said so - I said so warmly, for I felt that the Professor was an ill-used man.
1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
adjective(of persons) taken advantage of
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
APA
ill-used. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ill-used
MLA
“ill-used.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ill-used. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ill-used,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ill-used.
Source: ill-used on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.