ill
Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel.
Adjective 4 meanings
Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel.
“He suffered from ill treatment.”
Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.
“ill manners; ill will”
Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick.
“mentally ill people”
Nauseated; having an urge to vomit.
“Seeing those pictures made me ill.”
Adverb 1 meaning
Not well; imperfectly, badly
“Such jealousy ill becomes her; she can ill afford another gaffe like that.”
Noun 4 meanings
Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity.
“Music won't solve all the world's ills, but it can make them easier to bear.”
Harm or injury.
“I wouldn't want you to do me ill.”
Evil; moral wrongfulness.
A physical ailment; an illness.
“I am incapacitated by rheumatism and other ills.”
Etymology
From Middle English ille (“evil; wicked”), from Old Norse íllr (adjective), ílla (adverb), ílt (noun), from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁elḱ- (whence Latin ulcus (“sore”), Ancient Greek ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound, ulcer”), Sanskrit अर्शस् (árśas, “hemorrhoids”)).
Similar and opposite words
ILL at a glance
ILL has 3 letters and scores 3 points in Scrabble (I 1 + L 1 + L 1) and 5 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #1,898 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with ill
All rhymesOne letter away
- ALL3
- ELL3
- ILK7
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