illy

I1L1L1Y4

adverb

Badly; poorly.

UncommonScrabble 7

Meanings

adverbilly (comparative more illy, superlative most illy)

comparative more illy · superlative most illy

  1. Badly; poorly.

    Nor was this less ominous than the rattle of musketry, for it suggested but a single solution to the little band of rescuers—that the illy garrisoned village had already succumbed to the onslaught of a superior force.

    1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 132
    1 more example

    The domestic presence of Lucy had begun to produce a remarkable effect upon Pierre. Sometimes, to the covertly watchful eye of Isabel, he would seem to look upon Lucy with an expression illy befitting their singular and so-supposed merely cousinly relation; […]

    1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities
adjectiveilly (comparative more illy, superlative most illy)

comparative more illy · superlative most illy

  1. USdancingcool, fresh

    A few more duets with Ghostface would have been illy, and even ONE track with RZA would have been the icing on a top notch cake. Regardless though to any who thought that Raekwon the Chef couldn't cook it up any more, "The Lex Diamond Story" proves that with or without RZA, he's still got it locked.

    2023 December 16, Steve 'Flash' Juon, Raekwon :: The Lex Diamond Story :: Universal Records

    Synonyms: sick, dope, ill

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivecool, fresh

Also see

Origin

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

illy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illy

MLA

“illy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illy. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “illy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illy.

Source: illy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.