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Definition of "poorly" []

  • In a poor manner. See Usage Note at poor. (adverb)
  • Chiefly Southern U.S. In poor health; ill: feeling poorly. See Usage Note at bad1. (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 "poorly" in a sentence
  • "TATTON: In this fundraising video to his supporters, he says that liberals are trying to silence him as he attempts to speak out against what he calls a poorly conceived plan."
  • "In it, Congressman Wilson tells them that the liberals are trying to silence him, he says, trying to stop him from speaking out on what he calls a poorly conceived plan."
  • ""There are here," he reports, "about twenty-five hundred men, five hundred of them sick, the greatest part of them what they call poorly; they bury from five to eight daily, and officers in proportion; extremely indolent, and dirty to a degree.""