Meaning & Definition of Ill in English

1. An often persistent bodily disorder or disease

• A cause for complaining

1. Affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function

• "Ill from the monotony of his suffering"

2. Resulting in suffering or adversity

• "Ill effects"

• "It's an ill wind that blows no good"

3. Distressing

• "Ill manners"

• "Of ill repute"

4. Indicating hostility or enmity

• "You certainly did me an ill turn"

• "Ill feelings"

• "Ill will"

5. Presaging ill fortune

• "Ill omens"

• "Ill predictions"

• "My words with inauspicious thunderings shook heaven"- p.b.shelley

• "A dead and ominous silence prevailed"

• "A by-election at a time highly unpropitious for the government"

1. (`ill' is often used as a combining form) in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner

• Not well

• "He was ill prepared"

• "It ill befits a man to betray old friends"

• "The car runs badly"

• "He performed badly on the exam"

• "The team played poorly"

• "Ill-fitting clothes"

• "An ill-conceived plan"

2. Unfavorably or with disapproval

• "Tried not to speak ill of the dead"

• "Thought badly of him for his lack of concern"

3. With difficulty or inconvenience

• Scarcely or hardly

• "We can ill afford to buy a new car just now"