Ill

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Adverb

CIDE DICTIONARY

Ill, a. [OE. ill, ille, Icel. illr; akin to Sw. illa, adv., Dan. ilde, adv.].

•  Contrary to good, in a physical sense; contrary or opposed to advantage, happiness, etc.; bad; evil; unfortunate; disagreeable; unfavorable.  [1913 Webster]

  "Neither is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but ill ways, ill markets, and ill neighbors."  [1913 Webster]

  "There 's some ill planet reigns."  [1913 Webster]
•  Contrary to good, in a moral sense; evil; wicked; wrong; iniquitious; naughtly; bad; improper.  [1913 Webster]

  "Of his own body he was ill, and gave
  The clergy ill example."  [1913 Webster]
•  Sick; indisposed; unwell; diseased; disordered; as, ill of a fever.  [1913 Webster]

  "I am in health, I breathe, and see thee ill."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not according with rule, fitness, or propriety; incorrect; rude; unpolished; inelegant.  [1913 Webster]

  "That 's an ill phrase."  [1913 Webster]

Ill at ease, uneasy; uncomfortable; anxious. “I am very ill at ease.” Shak. -- Ill blood, enmity; resentment; bad blood. -- Ill breeding, lack of good breeding; rudeness. -- Ill fame, ill or bad repute; as, a house of ill fame, a house where lewd persons meet for illicit intercourse. -- Ill humor, a disagreeable mood; bad temper. -- Ill nature, bad disposition or temperament; sullenness; esp., a disposition to cause unhappiness to others. -- Ill temper, anger; moroseness; crossness. -- Ill turn. (a) An unkind act. (b) A slight attack of illness. [Colloq. U.S.] -- Ill will, unkindness; enmity; malevolence.

Syn. -- Bad; evil; wrong; wicked; sick; unwell.

Ill, n. 

•  Whatever annoys or impairs happiness, or prevents success; evil of any kind; misfortune; calamity; disease; pain; as, the ills of humanity.  [1913 Webster]

  "Who can all sense of others' ills escape
  Is but a brute at best in human shape."  [1913 Webster]

  "That makes us rather bear those ills we have
  Than fly to others that we know not of."  [1913 Webster]
•  Whatever is contrary to good, in a moral sense; wickedness; depravity; iniquity; wrong; evil.  [1913 Webster]

  "Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still,
  Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill."  [1913 Webster]

Ill, adv. 

 In a ill manner; badly; weakly.  [1913 Webster]
" Ill, like above, well, and so, is used before many participal adjectives, in its usual adverbal sense. When the two words are used as an epithet preceding the noun qualified they are commonly hyphened; in other cases they are written separatively; as, an ill-educated man; he was ill educated; an ill-formed plan; the plan, however ill formed, was acceptable. Ao, also, the following: ill-affected or ill affected, ill-arranged or ill arranged, ill-assorted or ill assorted, ill-boding or ill boding, ill-bred or ill bred, ill-conditioned, ill-conducted, ill-considered, ill-devised, ill-disposed, ill-doing, ill-fairing, ill-fated, ill-favored, ill-featured, ill-formed, ill-gotten, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill-looking, ill-mannered, ill-matched, ill-meaning, ill-minded, ill-natured, ill-omened, ill-proportioned, ill-provided, ill-required, ill-sorted, ill-starred, ill-tempered, ill-timed, ill-trained, ill-used, and the like."  [1913 Webster]
"How ill this taper burns!"  [1913 Webster]
"Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Ill, adj., adv., & n.
--adj.
1 (usu. predic.; often foll. by with) out of health; sick (is ill; was taken ill with pneumonia; mentally ill people).
2 (of health) unsound, disordered.
3 wretched, unfavourable (ill fortune; ill luck).
4 harmful (ill effects).
5 hostile, unkind (ill feeling).
6 archaic morally bad.
7 faulty, unskilful (ill taste; ill management).
8 (of manners or conduct) improper.
--adv.
1 badly, wrongly (ill-matched).
2 a imperfectly (ill-provided). b scarcely (can ill afford to do it).
3 unfavourably (it would have gone ill with them).
--n.
1 injury, harm.
2 evil; the opposite of good.

Idiom

do an ill turn to harm (a person or a person's interests). ill-advised
1 acting foolishly or imprudently.
2 (of a plan etc.) not well formed or considered. ill-advisedly in a foolish or badly considered manner. ill-affected (foll. by towards) not well disposed. ill-assorted not well matched. ill at ease embarrassed, uneasy. ill-behaved see BEHAVE. ill blood bad feeling; animosity. ill-bred badly brought up; rude. ill breeding bad manners. ill-considered = ill-advised. ill-defined not clearly defined.
ill-disposed
1 (often foll. by towards) unfavourably disposed.
2 disposed to evil; malevolent. ill-equipped (often foll. by to + infin.) not adequately equipped or qualified. ill fame see FAME. ill-fated destined to or bringing bad fortune. ill-favoured (US -favored) unattractive, displeasing, objectionable. ill feeling bad feeling; animosity. ill-founded (of an idea etc.) not well founded; baseless. ill-gotten gained by wicked or unlawful means. ill humour moroseness, irritability. ill-humoured bad-tempered. ill-judged unwise; badly considered. ill-mannered having bad manners; rude. ill nature churlishness, unkindness. ill-natured churlish, unkind. ill-naturedly churlishly. ill-omened attended by bad omens. ill-starred unlucky; destined to failure. ill success partial or complete failure. ill temper moroseness. ill-tempered morose, irritable. ill-timed done or occurring at an inappropriate time. ill-treat (or -use) treat badly; abuse. ill-treatment (or ill use) abuse; bad treatment. ill will bad feeling; animosity. an ill wind an unfavourable or untoward circumstance (with ref. to the proverb it's an ill wind that blows nobody good). speak ill of say something unfavourable about.

Etymology

ME f. ON illr, of unkn. orig.

THESAURUS

Ill

abomination, affection, ailing, ailment, amiss, apocalyptic, atrocity, bad, badly, baleful, bane, baneful, befoulment, below par, black, blight, bodeful, boding, complaint, condition, corruption, criminal, critically ill, crying evil, damage, damaging, dark, defilement, deleterious, despoliation, destruction, detriment, detrimental, dire, disadvantageously, disagreeable, disagreeably, discourteous, disease, disorder, disrespectful, doomful, down, dreary, evil, evil-starred, evilly, faint, faintish, fateful, feeling awful, feeling faint, feeling something terrible, foreboding, gloomy, grievance, harm, havoc, hurt, hurtful, ill-boding, ill-bred, ill-fated, ill-mannered, ill-omened, ill-starred, impertinent, impolite, improper, in danger, inaccurate, inauspicious, incline, inconveniently, indisposed, inexpedient, infection, inferior, infirmity, inhospitable, inhospitably, inimical, injurious, injury, invalid, laid low, lowering, malady, malevolent, menacing, mischief, mortally ill, not quite right, of evil portent, off-color, ominous, out of sorts, outrage, peccant, poison, pollution, portending, portentous, rocky, rude, seedy, sick, sick unto death, sickish, sickness, sinful, sinister, somber, syndrome, taken ill, the worst, threatening, toxin, unadvantageously, unaffectionate, unaffectionately, unamiable, unamiably, unbenign, unbenignant, unbenignantly, unbenignly, uncompassionate, uncompassionately, uncompassioned, uncordial, uncordially, under the weather, unfavorable, unfortunate, unfriendly, ungenial, ungenially, ungracious, ungraciously, unhandily, unhealthy, unkind, unkindly, unloving, unlovingly, unlucky, unpleasant, unprofitably, unpromising, unpropitious, unrewardingly, unskillful, unsympathetic, unsympathetically, unsympathizing, untoward, unwell, uselessly, venom, vexation, vicious, wicked, with difficulty, woe, wrong, wrongly

ROGET THESAURUS

Ill

Evil

N evil, ill, harm, hurt, mischief, nuisance, machinations of the devil, Pandora's box, ills that flesh is heir to, blow, buffet, stroke, scratch, bruise, wound, gash, mutilation, mortal blow, wound, immedicabile vulnus, damage, loss, disadvantage, prejudice, drawback, disaster, accident, casualty, mishap, bad job, devil to pay, calamity, bale, catastrophe, tragedy, ruin, adversity, mental suffering, demon, (Evil spirit) bane, (cause of evil), badness, (Production of Evil), painfulness, evil doer, outrage, wrong, injury, foul play, bad turn, ill turn, disservice, spoliation, grievance, crying evil, disastrous, bad, awry, out of joint, disadvantageous, amis, wrong, ill, to one's cost, moving accidents by flood and field, evil, ill, harm, hurt, mischief, nuisance, machinations of the devil, Pandora's box, ills that flesh is heir to, blow, buffet, stroke, scratch, bruise, wound, gash, mutilation, mortal blow, wound, immedicabile vulnus, damage, loss, disadvantage, prejudice, drawback, disaster, accident, casualty, mishap, bad job, devil to pay, calamity, bale, catastrophe, tragedy, ruin, adversity, mental suffering, demon, (Evil spirit) bane, (cause of evil), badness, (Production of Evil), painfulness, evil doer, outrage, wrong, injury, foul play, bad turn, ill turn, disservice, spoliation, grievance, crying evil, disastrous, bad, awry, out of joint, disadvantageous, amis, wrong, ill, to one's cost, moving accidents by flood and field.

Badness

N badness, hurtfulness, virulence, evil doer, bane, plague spot, evil star, ill wind, hoodoo, Jonah, snake in the grass, skeleton in the closet, amari aliquid, thorn in the side, malignity, malevolence, tender mercies, ill-treatment, annoyance, molestation, abuse, oppression, persecution, outrage, misusage, injury, knockout drops, badness, peccancy, abomination, painfulness, pestilence, guilt, depravity, hurtful, harmful, scathful, baneful, baleful, injurious, deleterious, detrimental, noxious, pernicious, mischievous, full of mischief, mischief-making, malefic, malignant, nocuous, noisome, prejudicial, disserviceable, disadvantageous, wide-wasting, unlucky, sinister, obnoxious, untoward, disastrous, oppressive, burdensome, onerous, malign, corrupting &c (corrupt), virulent, venomous, envenomed, corrosive, poisonous, deadly, destructive, inauspicious, bad, ill, arrant, as bad as bad can be, dreadful, horrid, horrible, dire, rank, peccant, foul, fulsome, rotten, rotten at the core, vile, base, villainous, mean, injured, deteriorated, unsatisfactory, exceptionable indifferent, below par, illcontrived, ill-conditioned, wretched, sad, grievous, deplorable, lamentable, pitiful, pitiable, woeful, evil, wrong, depraved, shocking, reprehensible, hateful, hateful as a toad, abominable, detestable, execrable, cursed, accursed, confounded, damned, damnable, infernal, diabolic, unadvisable, unprofitable, incompetent, irremediable, badly, wrong, ill, to one's cost, where the shoe pinches, bad is the best: the worst come to the worst, herba mala presto cresco, wrongs unredressed or insults unavenged, badness, hurtfulness, virulence, evil doer, bane, plague spot, evil star, ill wind, hoodoo, Jonah, snake in the grass, skeleton in the closet, amari aliquid, thorn in the side, malignity, malevolence, tender mercies, ill-treatment, annoyance, molestation, abuse, oppression, persecution, outrage, misusage, injury, knockout drops, badness, peccancy, abomination, painfulness, pestilence, guilt, depravity, hurtful, harmful, scathful, baneful, baleful, injurious, deleterious, detrimental, noxious, pernicious, mischievous, full of mischief, mischief-making, malefic, malignant, nocuous, noisome, prejudicial, disserviceable, disadvantageous, wide-wasting, unlucky, sinister, obnoxious, untoward, disastrous, oppressive, burdensome, onerous, malign, corrupting &c (corrupt), virulent, venomous, envenomed, corrosive, poisonous, deadly, destructive, inauspicious, bad, ill, arrant, as bad as bad can be, dreadful, horrid, horrible, dire, rank, peccant, foul, fulsome, rotten, rotten at the core, vile, base, villainous, mean, injured, deteriorated, unsatisfactory, exceptionable indifferent, below par, illcontrived, ill-conditioned, wretched, sad, grievous, deplorable, lamentable, pitiful, pitiable, woeful, evil, wrong, depraved, shocking, reprehensible, hateful, hateful as a toad, abominable, detestable, execrable, cursed, accursed, confounded, damned, damnable, infernal, diabolic, unadvisable, unprofitable, incompetent, irremediable, badly, wrong, ill, to one's cost, where the shoe pinches, bad is the best: the worst come to the worst, herba mala presto cresco, wrongs unredressed or insults unavenged.

Disease

N disease, illness, sickness, ailing, all the ills that flesh is heir to, morbidity, morbosity, infirmity, ailment, indisposition, complaint, disorder, malady, distemper, distemperature, visitation, attack, seizure, stroke, fit, delicacy, loss of health, invalidation, cachexy, cachexia, atrophy, marasmus, indigestion, dyspepsia, decay, decline, consumption, palsy, paralysis, prostration, taint, pollution, infection, sepsis, septicity, infestation, epidemic, pandemic, endemic, epizootic, murrain, plague, pestilence, pox, sore, ulcer, abscess, fester, boil, pimple, wen, carbuncle, gathering, imposthume, peccant humor, issue, rot, canker, cold sore, fever sore, cancer, carcinoma, leukemia, neoplastic disease, malignancy, tumor, caries, mortification, corruption, gangrene, sphacelus, sphacelation, leprosy, eruption, rash, breaking out, fever, temperature, calenture, inflammation, ague, angina pectoris, appendicitis, Asiatic cholera, spasmodic cholera, biliary calculus, kidney stone, black death, bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, blennorrhagia, blennorrhoea, blood poisoning, bloodstroke, bloody flux, brash, breakbone fever, dengue fever, malarial fever, Q-fever, heart attack, cardiac arrest, cardiomyopathy, hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis, bronchocele, canker rash, cardialgia, carditis, endocarditis, cholera, asphyxia, chlorosis, chorea, cynanche, dartre, enanthem, enanthema, erysipelas, exanthem, exanthema, gallstone, goiter, gonorrhea, green sickness, grip, grippe, influenza, flu, hay fever, heartburn, heaves, rupture, hernia, hemorrhoids, piles, herpes, itch, king's evil, lockjaw, measles, mumps, polio, necrosis, pertussis, phthisis, pneumonia, psora, pyaemia, pyrosis, quinsy, rachitis, ringworm, rubeola, St. Vitus's dance, scabies, scarlatina, scarlet fever, scrofula, seasickness, struma, syntexis, tetanus, tetter, tonsillitis, tonsilitis, tracheocele, trachoma, trismus, varicella, varicosis, variola, water qualm, whooping cough, yellow fever, yellow jack, fatal disease, dangerous illness, galloping consumption, churchyard cough, general breaking up, break up of the system, idiocy insanity, martyr to disease, cripple, the halt the lame and the blind, valetudinary, valetudinarian, invalid, patient, case, sickroom, sick- chamber, pathology, etiology, nosology, anthrax, bighead, blackleg, blackquarter, cattle plague, glanders, mange, scrapie, milk sickness, heartworm, feline leukemia, roundworms, quarter-evil, quarter-ill, rinderpest, virus, bacterium, bacteria, DNA virus, RNA virus, rhinovirus, rhabdovirus, picornavirus, herpesvirus, cytomegalovirus, CMV, human immunodefficiency virus, HIV, diseased, ailing, ill, ill of, taken ill, seized with, indisposed, unwell, sick, squeamish, poorly, seedy, affected with illness, afflicted with illness, laid up, confined, bedridden, invalided, in hospital, on the sick list, out of health, out of sorts, under the weather, valetudinary, unsound, unhealthy, sickly, morbid, morbose, healthless, infirm, chlorotic, unbraced, drooping, flagging, lame, crippled, halting, morbid, tainted, vitiated, peccant, contaminated, poisoned, tabid, mangy, leprous, cankered, rotten, rotten to the core, rotten at the core, withered, palsied, paralytic, dyspeptic, luetic, pneumonic, pulmonic, phthisic, rachitic, syntectic, syntectical, tabetic, varicose, touched in the wind, broken-winded, spavined, gasping, hors de combat, weakly, weakened, decrepit, decayed, incurable, in declining health, cranky, in a bad way, in danger, prostrate, moribund, morbific epidemic, endemic, zymotic.