Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "ill" []

  • Not healthy; sick: I began to feel ill last week. (adjective)
  • Not normal; unsound: an ill condition of body and mind. (adjective)
  • Resulting in suffering; harmful or distressing: the ill effects of a misconceived policy. (adjective)
  • Resulting from or suggestive of evil intentions: ill deeds committed out of spite. (adjective)
  • Ascribing an objectionable quality: holds an ill view of that political group. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "ill" in a sentence
  • "IV. i.35 (385,8) [that my heart means no ill] [W: tho '] _That my heart means no ill_, is the same with _to whom my heart means no ill_; the common phrase suppresses the particle, as _I mean him_ [not _to_ him] _no harm_."
  • "A few weeks ago she was taken ill, and in her ill*"
  • "What w ill thc}/anivver; if a defpcrate and a ftarving people, a licentious and an ill* paid foidicry tired with plundering and with deftroying each other fhould unite in requiring reaibn of them, as of the au - thors of all their evils?"