ill

/ɪl/
🔵 Intermediate

Word Statistics

Difficulty LevelIntermediate

Standard vocabulary

Word FrequencyVery Common

Used frequently in everyday conversation

Syllables1

Simple pronunciation

Analysis:

  • Common vocabulary word
  • Simple pronunciation
noun

1. (often pluralized) Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity.

"Music won't solve all the world's ills, but it can make them easier to bear."

2. Harm or injury.

"I wouldn't want you to do me ill."

3. Evil; moral wrongfulness.

4. A physical ailment; an illness.

"I am incapacitated by rheumatism and other ills."

5. PCP, phencyclidine.

adjective

1. Evil; wicked (of people).

2. Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy.

3. Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel.

"He suffered from ill treatment."

4. Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.

"ill manners; ill will"

5. Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick.

"I've been ill with the flu for the past few days."

6. Having an urge to vomit.

"Seeing those pictures made me ill."

7. (hip-hop slang) Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way.

8. Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be.

"That band was ill."

9. Unwise; not a good idea.

Synonyms

adverb

1. Not well; imperfectly, badly; hardly.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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