ill

adj

/ɪl/

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”)). Cognates Cognate with Scots and Yola ill, Danish ilde (“bad”), Faroese, Icelandic illur (“bad, ill, wicked”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk ille (“bad”), Swedish illa (“badly; poorly”).

derived from *h₁elḱ-✻
derived from *ilhilaz✻
derived from íllr
inherited from ille

Definitions

1
Evil
Evil; wicked (of people).
- St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.
- A man who is conscious of having an ill character, cannot justly be angry with those who neglect and slight him.
2
Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.)
Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy.
- ‘Go bring her. It is ill to keep a lady waiting.’
3
Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions
Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel.
- He suffered from ill treatment.
›+ 15 more definitionsshow fewer
1. 4
  Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.
  - ill manners; ill will
2. 5
  Unwell in terms of health or physical condition
  Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick.
  - mentally ill people
  - I've been ill with the flu for the past few days.
  - “We desperately needed the nursing support because our ICUs are so inundated with critically ill Covid patients,” Brown said.
3. 6
  Nauseated
  Nauseated; having an urge to vomit.
  - Seeing those pictures made me ill.
4. 7
  Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way.
  - This is the illest beat I've ever heard.
  - Biggie Smalls is the illest / Your style is played out, like Arnold wonderin "Whatchu talkin bout, Willis?"
5. 8
  Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be.
  - That band was ill.
6. 9
  Unwise
  Unwise; not a good idea.
  - Oh that when the devil and flesh entice the sinner to sport with and make a mock of sin, Prov. x. 23, he would but consider, it is ill jesting with edged tools, it is ill jesting with unquenchable burnings; […]
  - They arrested everybody—and it is ill to resist a drunken Tommy with a loaded rifle!
7. Bad-tempered.
8. 11
  Not well
  Not well; imperfectly, badly
  - Such jealousy ill becomes her; she can ill afford another gaffe like that.
  - He would have conversed as usual; but his attempts were so ill seconded, that he was fain to take refuge in the letters that lay beside him.
  - Within, I found it, as I had expected, transcendently dismal. The slowly changing shadows waved on it from the heavy trees, were doleful in the last degree; the house was ill-placed, ill-built, ill-planned, and ill-fitted.
9. 12
  Trouble
  Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity.
  - Music won't solve all the world's ills, but it can make them easier to bear.
  - That makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of.
10. 13
  Harm or injury.
  - I wouldn't want you to do me ill.
  - Loue worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore loue is the fulfilling of the Law.
11. 14
  A physical ailment
  A physical ailment; an illness.
  - I am incapacitated by rheumatism and other ills.
12. PCP, phencyclidine.
13. 16
  To behave aggressively.
  - D.M.C.: You been illin' lately. Run: So, I'm illin'. Am I illin'? Chillin'! You know what I'm sayin'? Chillin'.
14. Initialism of interlibrary loan.
15. A river in France, tributary to the Rhine.

The neighborhood

synonymbadbad
synonymmal-bad
synonymcrank
synonymcrook
synonymgreen about the gills
synonymicky
synonymill
synonymindisposed
synonyminfirm
synonymlike death warmed over
synonymlousy
synonymmaladive
antonymfineantonym(s) of “suffering from a disease”
antonymhaleantonym(s) of “suffering from a disease”
antonymhealthyantonym(s) of “suffering from a disease”
antonymin good healthantonym(s) of “suffering from a disease”
antonymwellantonym(s) of “suffering from a disease”
antonymgoodantonym(s) of “bad”
antonymwackantonym(s) of
neighborcancerous
neighbordiseased
neighbornauseated
neighborbedbound
neighborbedfast
neighborbedridden
neighborlaid up

Derived

be taken ill, bird of ill omen, do ill, fall ill, house of ill fame, ill-adapted, illbeing, ill-being, illbient, ill blood, illderly, ill-ease, ill effect, ill effects, ill fame, ill-famed, illfare, ill feeling, ill-fortune, ill health, ill humor, ill humour, illish, ill-looking, ill luck, ill name, illness, ill news spreads apace, ill off, ill-omened, ill-repute, ill-scented, illsome, ill-starred, illth, ill-thrift, ill-treatment, ill turn, ill-usage, ill-use · +28 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at ill. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

A definitional loop anchored at ill. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at ill

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA