ill
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ill¹
- /ɪl/
Rhymes with -ɪl
Where it comes from
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”).
adjective iller · more ill · illest · most ill
- Evil; wicked (of people). St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.
- 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
- Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick. mentally ill people
- 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.
Similar: dope
- 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; […]
-
Bad-tempered.
Similar: diseased, poorly, sick, under the weather, unwell, ailing
Similar: bad, mal-, crank, crook, green about the gills, icky, ill, indisposed, infirm, like death warmed over, lousy, maladive, mawkish, off one's feed, on the Pat and Mick, out of sorts, Pat and Mick, punk, puny, queer, ropy, rough, sickish, sickly, sick as a dog, sick as a parrot, tumid, unhealthy, valetudinarian, valetudinary · Opposite: fine, hale, healthy, in good health, well, good, wack
adverb worse · more ill · worst · most ill
-
Not well; imperfectly, badly
Such jealousy ill becomes her; she can ill afford another gaffe like that.
Similar: illy
Opposite: well
noun ills
- Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity. Music won't solve all the world's ills, but it can make them easier to bear.
- Harm or injury. I wouldn't want you to do me ill.
- 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 ills · illing · illed
- 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'.
ILL²
noun ILLs
- Initialism of interlibrary loan
Ill³
Where it comes from
From French Ill.
proper noun the Ill
- A river in France, tributary to the Rhine.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: badly, inauspicious, bad, unpropitious, harmful, hostile, poorly, trouble, faint, afflicted, stricken, distress, infirm, ailing, indisposed, upset
adjective
Similar: bad, mal-, crank, crook, green about the gills, icky, ill, indisposed, infirm, like death warmed over, lousy, maladive, mawkish, off one's feed, on the Pat and Mick, out of sorts, Pat and Mick, punk, puny, queer, ropy, rough, sickish, sickly, sick as a dog, sick as a parrot, tumid, unhealthy, valetudinarian, valetudinary · Opposite: fine, hale, healthy, in good health, well, good, wack
adverb
Opposite: well
Translations
Every language
adj in poor health, suffering from a disease
| Español | enfermo, mareado |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 병들다 byeongdeulda, 앓다 alta |
| 日本語 | 病気 byōki |
| 中文 | 病 bìng |
| हिन्दी | अस्वस्थ asvasth, बीमार bīmār, रोगी rogī |
| Kiswahili | -gonjwa |
| Português | doente |
| Français | malade |
| Deutsch | krank, siech |
| Italiano | malato |
| Ελληνικά | άρρωστος árrostos |
| Română | bolnav, abătut |
| Русский | больно́й bolʹnój, хво́рый xvóryj |
| Tiếng Việt | bệnh, ốm |
| العربية | مَرِيض marīḍ |
| עברית | חוֹלֶה kholé |
adj in hip-hop slang: sublime
| Français | s |
|---|
noun a problem
| Deutsch | Übel |
|---|
Talk about this word "ill." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ill. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. ill. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ill "ill." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ill.Cite this
@misc{ill_2026,
title = {ill},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ill},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
