[
UK
/ˈɪl/
]
[ US /ˈɪɫ/ ]
[ US /ˈɪɫ/ ]
ADJECTIVE
-
indicating hostility or enmity
ill feelings
ill will
you certainly did me an ill turn -
affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function
ill from the monotony of his suffering -
presaging ill fortune
my words with inauspicious thunderings shook heaven
a by-election at a time highly unpropitious for the Government
a dead and ominous silence prevailed
ill predictions
ill omens -
distressing
of ill repute
ill manners -
resulting in suffering or adversity
it's an ill wind that blows no good
ill effects
ADVERB
-
(`ill' is often used as a combining form) in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner; not well
he was ill prepared
he performed badly on the exam
ill-fitting clothes
the car runs badly
it ill befits a man to betray old friends
an ill-conceived plan
the team played poorly -
unfavorably or with disapproval
thought badly of him for his lack of concern
tried not to speak ill of the dead -
with difficulty or inconvenience; scarcely or hardly
we can ill afford to buy a new car just now
NOUN
- an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
How To Use ill In A Sentence
- It's not bad but neither is it brilliant - which won't bother 99 per cent of buyers one jot as they are in it for the image.
- The difficulties of the next year or two will, no doubt, reawaken the pro-euro lobby.
- When the new foods that came from the Americas - peppers, summer squash and especially tomatoes - took hold in the region, a number of closely related dishes were born, including what we call ratatouille - and a man from La Mancha calls pisto, an Ikarian Greek calls soufiko and a Turk calls turlu. NYT > Home Page
- Mix together with as few stirs as possible - mixing too much will make the muffins too dense and heavy. The Sun
- It would almost be better to have no backbench bills at all than the current system, which offers a false glimmer of hope. Times, Sunday Times
- You think Spielberg would only have a rattletrap third-rate spaceship like the Millennium Falcon to ensure his survival? Does George Lucas think the world will end in 2012?
- Sceptics stung by that debacle may still be wary. Times, Sunday Times
- These observations will provide a valuable supplement to the simultaneous records of other expeditions, especially the British in McMurdo Sound and the German in Weddell Sea, above all as regards the hypsometer observations (for the determination of altitude) on sledge journeys. The South Pole~ Remarks on the Meteorological Observations at Framheim
- The scene will be etched on my memory forever.
- Laura Wade's Posh, timed to open as the Tories edged into power in May 2010, reminded us just what we were in for: overprivileged hooligans in drinking-society blazers who trash a pub as thoughtlessly as they will trash the country. Dominic Cooke: a life in theatre