ill

English Online Dictionary. What means ill‎? What does ill mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English ille (“evil; wicked”), from Old Norse illr (adj), illa (adverb), ilt (noun) (whence Icelandic illur, Norwegian ille, Danish ilde), from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁elḱ- (whence Latin ulcus (“sore”), Ancient Greek ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound, ulcer”), Sanskrit अर्शस् (árśas, “hemorrhoids”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪl/
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Adjective

ill (comparative iller or more ill, superlative illest or most ill)

1. (obsolete) Evil; wicked (of people). [13th–19th c.]
2. (archaic) Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy. [from 13th c.]
3. Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel. [from 14th c.]

4. Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.
5. Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick. [from 15th c.]

6. Having an urge to vomit. [from 20th c.]

7. (slang, chiefly hip-hop) Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way.
8. (slang) Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be.

9. (dated) Unwise; not a good idea.
10. (Appalachia) Bad-tempered.

Usage notes

• The comparative iller and superlative illest are not commonly used outside of the slang sense sublime; instead, other terms such as worse and worst are frequently substituted instead.

Synonyms

• (suffering from a disease): diseased, poorly (UK), sick, under the weather (informal), unwell
• (having an urge to vomit): disgusted, nauseated, nauseous, sick, sickened
• (bad): bad, mal-
• (in hip-hop slang: sublime): dope
• See also Thesaurus:diseased

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “suffering from a disease”): fine, hale, healthy, in good health, well
• (antonym(s) of “bad”): good
• (antonym(s) of “in hip-hop slang: sublime”): wack

Derived terms

Translations

References

Adverb

ill (comparative worse or more ill, superlative worst or most)

1. Not well; imperfectly, badly
   • 2006, Julia Borossa (translator), Monique Canto-Sperber (quoted author), in Libération, 2002 February 2, quoted in Élisabeth Badinter (quoting author), Dead End Feminism, Polity, →ISBN, page 40:

     Is it because this supposes an undifferentiated violence towards others and oneself that I could ill imagine in a woman?

Synonyms

• illy

Antonyms

• well

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

ill (countable and uncountable, plural ills)

1. (often pluralized) Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity.
2. Harm or injury.
3. Evil; moral wrongfulness.
4. A physical ailment; an illness.

5. (US, slang, uncountable) PCP, phencyclidine.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

ill (third-person singular simple present ills, present participle illing, simple past and past participle illed)

1. (intransitive, slang, dated) To behave aggressively.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.

Further reading

• “ill”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “ill v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Anagrams

• li'l', lil', li'l, Lil, lil

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse illr, from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz. Along English ill, probably cognate with Irish olc.

Adjective

ill (masculine and feminine ill, neuter ilt, definite singular and plural ille, comparative illare, superlative indefinite illast, superlative definite illaste)

1. bad
2. sore
3. angry, wroth
4. (in compounds) strong, very

Related terms

• illa, ille (verb)
• ille (adverb)

References

• “ill” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Norse

Adjective

ill

1. inflection of illr:
   1. strong feminine nominative singular
   2. strong neuter nominative/accusative plural

Scots

Adjective

ill (comparative waur, superlative warst)

1. ill
2. bad, evil, wicked
3. harsh, severe
4. profane
5. difficult, troublesome
6. awkward, unskilled

Adverb

ill (comparative waur, superlative warst)

1. ill
2. badly, evilly, wickedly
3. harshly, severely
4. profanely
5. with difficulty
6. awkwardly, inexpertly

Noun

ill (plural ills)

1. ill
2. ill will, malice

Yola

Etymology 1

From Middle English ille, from Old Norse illr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪl/

Adjective

ill

1. ill

Etymology 2

Verb

ill

1. Alternative form of woul (“will”)

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 37 & 48