# ill

Pronunciation: say "IL" /ɪl/

## Adjective

1. Suffering from an illness or poor health, whether of the body or the mind; sick.
   - Simple: Not healthy because of an illness of the body or the mind.
   - _The patient grew steadily more ill over the course of the week._
   - _My grandmother has been seriously ill with pneumonia since early January._
2. Bad, unfavorable, or faulty; also unwise, as in an ill choice.
   - Simple: Bad, unlucky, poorly done, or unwise.
   - _Through ill fortune, the harvest failed for a third straight year._
   - _The venture began under an ill omen and never recovered._
6. Showing or marked by unkind or cruel intentions; harsh.
   - Simple: Showing unkind, harsh, or cruel feelings or plans toward someone.
   - _Years of rivalry had bred deep ill will between the two families._
   - _There was ill intent hidden behind his polite words._
7. Nauseated; feeling an urge to vomit.
   - Simple: Feeling sick in your stomach, like you might throw up.
   - _The rocking of the ferry left several passengers feeling ill._
   - _One whiff of the spoiled milk was enough to make him ill._
8. Outstanding in a strikingly creative or skillful way, as in hip-hop and street dance. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Very impressive and creative, often in music or dancing.
   - _The DJ dropped an ill set that kept the whole floor moving._
   - _His footwork was ill, blending styles nobody had tried before._
11. Extremely bad, bad enough to make one feel sick; usually used predicatively with a form of 'to be'. *(slang)*
   - Simple: So bad that it almost makes you feel sick.
   - _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._
12. Bad-tempered and easily angered or irritated. *(dialectal, Appalachia)*
   - Simple: In a bad mood and easily annoyed.
   - _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._

## Adverb

3. In a faulty or imperfect manner; badly.
   - Simple: In a bad way, or not done well.
   - _The new policy was ill received by most of the staff._
   - _The travelers were ill served by the unreliable bus service._
14. Hardly, or only through real effort or genuine sacrifice.
   - Simple: Hardly, or only with a lot of trouble or cost.
   - _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._
15. With unkindness or disapproval, in a way that shows or suggests a low opinion of a person or thing.
   - Simple: In an unkind way, or in a way that shows you think badly of someone or something.
   - _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._

## Noun

4. A bodily ailment or illness.
   - Simple: A sickness or health problem in the body.
   - _Folk remedies once promised to cure every ill known to the village._
   - _The clinic mostly treats the common ills of old age._
5. Harm, trouble, or misfortune that happens to someone or is done to them, as in wish someone no ill or the ills of modern life.
   - Simple: Harm, trouble, or bad luck that happens to someone.
   - _No fortune, however great, can shield a person from every ill._
   - _The report blamed the region's ills on years of neglect._
9. Evil or moral wrongfulness.
   - Simple: Wrong or evil behavior, the opposite of good.
   - _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._

## Adjective

10. In older use, morally bad or wicked, of a person or of their behavior. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: In old use, wicked or morally bad.
   - _Neighbors murmured about his ill behavior toward the servants._
   - _She repented of her ill deeds in her final years._

## Verb

13. To behave badly, wildly, or foolishly, sometimes in an aggressive or hostile way. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To act in a crazy, silly, or aggressive way.
   - _When his little brother took the last slice, Marcus started illing, slamming doors and yelling at everyone in the house._
   - _He was illing all night, yelling at strangers and knocking drinks off the tables until his friends took him home._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Phencyclidine (PCP), a powerful and dangerous dissociative drug.

## 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").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ill (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).