ill
Noun pluralills
Pluralills
- 1Suffering from an illness or poor health, whether of the body or the mind; sick.
The patient grew steadily more ill over the course of the week.
My grandmother has been seriously ill with pneumonia since early January.
UsageOften ill with + illness (ill with pneumonia). Before a noun, sick is more usual (a sick child), though seriously ill patients is fine.
Similarsick, unwell, ailing, poorly, indisposed
- 2Bad, unfavorable, or faulty; also unwise, as in an ill choice.
Through ill fortune, the harvest failed for a third straight year.
The venture began under an ill omen and never recovered.
UsageMostly before a noun in set phrases: ill fortune, ill omen, ill effects.
Similarbad, unfavorable, unlucky
- 3In a faulty or imperfect manner; badly.
The new policy was ill received by most of the staff.
The travelers were ill served by the unreliable bus service.
UsageMostly before a past participle (ill received, ill served), often hyphenated before a noun: an ill-advised plan.
Note
The adverb behind a family of judgments: ill becomes, ill suited, ill seconded, ill defined. Dickens strings them into compounds in 1859: "ill-placed, ill-built, ill-planned, and ill-fitted." Rudolf Schuster (1992), by contrast, writes "ill defined" open after the verb.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Dickens wrote the quoted sequence of hyphenated compounds. gutenberg.org
- The Dickens passage was first published in 1859. en.wikipedia.org
- The Schuster work containing the quotation was published in 1992. britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk
- Rudolf Schuster writes “ill defined” without a hyphen after the verb. en.wiktionary.org
- 4A bodily ailment or illness.
Folk remedies once promised to cure every ill known to the village.
The clinic mostly treats the common ills of old age.
UsageMostly plural: the common ills of old age. In everyday talk, illness is usual.
Similarailment, disease, malady, complaint, affliction
- 5Harm, trouble, or misfortune that happens to someone or is done to them, as in wish someone no ill or the ills of modern life.
No fortune, however great, can shield a person from every ill.
The report blamed the region's ills on years of neglect.
UsageOften plural for problems in society: society's ills, the world's ills.
Similarmisfortune, trouble, problem, harm, evil
Note
Most at home in the plural: the world's ills, the ills of humanity, and Hamlet's "those ills we have." The plural names a spread of troubles weighing on a person or a society.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Hamlet says “those ills we have” in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. folger.edu
- 6Showing or marked by unkind or cruel intentions; harsh.
Years of rivalry had bred deep ill will between the two families.
There was ill intent hidden behind his polite words.
UsageMostly before a noun in ill will, ill intent, ill feeling.
Similarmalicious, hostile, malevolent, evil, unkind
Oppositegood, kind, benevolent, friendly
- 7
Less common meanings
- 8Outstanding in a strikingly creative or skillful way, as in hip-hop and street dance.
The DJ dropped an ill set that kept the whole floor moving.
His footwork was ill, blending styles nobody had tried before.
UsagePraise in hip-hop talk, often the illest; outside music, dance and street sport, people may hear sickness.
Similarsick, dope, wicked, tight, fresh
Note
Hip-hop turned the word inside out and made it praise for work that is inventive and beyond what others manage. The superlative illest carries much of the load, as in Biggie Smalls's "The What" (1994), where the rapper crowns himself the illest.
- 9Evil or moral wrongfulness.
The novel asks whether a man who has done so much ill can ever be redeemed.
The preacher warned that ill takes root in the heart long before it shows in deeds.
Similarevil, wrong, wickedness, sin, badness
Oppositegood, goodness, virtue, righteousness
- 10In older use, morally bad or wicked, of a person or of their behavior.
Neighbors murmured about his ill behavior toward the servants.
‘Go bring her. It is ill to keep a lady waiting.’
1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of KingsNote
The blame can fall on a person's conduct or on the person, as a wicked character. George R.R. Martin's A Clash of Kings (1998) uses it for a medieval ring: "It is ill to keep a lady waiting." That frame is shared with the "bad or unwise" meaning. To tell them apart, ask whether the act is wrong or merely foolish. In modern prose it reads as deliberate period color.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- George R. R. Martin wrote A Clash of Kings. openlibrary.org
- A Clash of Kings was first published in 1998. en.wikipedia.org
- A Clash of Kings contains the exact quoted sentence. en.wiktionary.org
- 11Extremely bad, bad enough to make one feel sick; usually used predicatively with a form of 'to be'.
The smell from the alley was straight ill after the heat wave.
He dared his cousin to drink pickle juice mixed with milk, and watching him gulp it down was honestly ill.
UsageUsually after be (that was ill), the same place as the praising sense, so tone tells which is meant.
Similarnasty, gross, foul, awful, terrible
Oppositenice, decent, pleasant
Note
The same slang, pointing the other way: something so bad it turns the stomach.
- 12Bad-tempered and easily angered or irritated.
Watch out for that old rooster; he's ill and will spur anybody who comes close.
Grandpa got so ill when the cows broke through his fence that he cussed for an hour.
UsageUse context to show that you mean someone's temper, since ill can also mean sick.
Similarbad, foul, sour, irritable, surly
Note
A regional use from Appalachia, where calling someone ill can mean they are cross rather than sick.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- In Appalachia, ill can mean bad-tempered or angry rather than sick. appalachian-english.library.sc.edu
- 13To behave badly, wildly, or foolishly, sometimes in an aggressive or hostile way.
When his little brother took the last slice, Marcus started illing, slamming doors and yelling at everyone in the house.
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 GrooveUsageMostly in the form illin' or illing: start illing. It now sounds like 1980s talk.
Note
Hip-hop slang of the 1980s made a verb of it: to act up, act crazy or get aggressive. Krush Groove (1985) sets it against its opposite: "So, I'm illin'... Chillin'."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The slang verb means to act crazy or behave aggressively. en.wikipedia.org
- Krush Groove was released in 1985. en.wikipedia.org
- The shortened quotation occurs in Krush Groove and contrasts illin' with chillin'; the speaker is Run. en.wiktionary.org
- 14Hardly, or only through real effort or genuine sacrifice.
Already short of players, the team can ill afford another injury.
After forty years on the land, the old man could ill bear the thought of selling the farm.
UsageSits between can or could and the verb; can ill afford is the usual phrase.
Similarhardly, scarcely, barely
Note
Unlike the plain "badly" adverb, it says a thing is barely possible or bearable, not that it is done poorly.
- 15With unkindness or disapproval, in a way that shows or suggests a low opinion of a person or thing.
The cover-up reflects ill on the whole department, not just the officers involved.
Neighbors who had once thought ill of the newcomers soon came to rely on them.
UsageIn set phrases: think ill of, speak ill of, reflect ill on. The comparative is worse.
Similarbadly, poorly, unfavorably
- 16Phencyclidine (PCP), a powerful and dangerous dissociative drug.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
It comes from Middle English 'ille' ("evil; wicked"), from Old Norse 'illr' (adjective) and related forms. Its deeper origin is disputed; one view traces it to a Proto-Indo-European root also seen in Latin 'ulcus' ("sore") and Ancient Greek 'hélkos' ("wound, ulcer").
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Ill comes through Middle English ille, meaning evil or wicked, from the Old Norse adjective illr and related forms. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin ulcus means sore. en.wiktionary.org
- Ancient Greek hélkos means wound or ulcer. en.wiktionary.org