ill
verb
- to speak ill of, abuse, malign, disparage
- to act crazily, aggressively, wildly
- to do something very well
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L322259 on Wikidata ↗adjective
- chronically sick
- not in full health, sick, unwell
- poor, unfavorable, bad
adverb
- badly
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ɪl/
adj
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”).
- 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.”
- Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy.
“‘Go bring her. It is ill to keep a lady waiting.’”
- 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”
“[…]his lordship was out of humour. That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve. Stiff-rumped, that's what he was, always rubbing the rust, or riding grub, like he had been for months past.”
- Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick.
“mentally ill people”
“I've been ill with the flu for the past few days.”
- Nauseated; having an urge to vomit.
“Seeing those pictures made me ill.”
- 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?"”
- Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be.
“That band was ill.”
- 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!”
- Bad-tempered.
adv
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”).
- 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.”
name
Etymology: From French Ill.
- A river in France, tributary to the Rhine.
noun
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”).
- 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.”
- 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.”
- Evil; moral wrongfulness.
“Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still, / Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill.”
- A physical ailment; an illness.
“I am incapacitated by rheumatism and other ills.”
- PCP, phencyclidine.
verb
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”).
- 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'.”