Ill

a. [The regular comparative and superlative are wanting, their places being supplied by worse and worst, from another root.] [Contracted from evil, O. Eng. ivele, eile, Icel. illr, Sw. illa, Dan. ilde.]

1Sense 1. Contrary to good in a physical sense; contrary or opposed to advantage, to happiness, &c.; bad; evil; unfortunate; disagreeable; unfavorable.

Neither is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but ill ways, ill markets, and ill neighbors. Bacon.

There's some ill planet reigns. Shak.

2Sense 2. Contrary to good, in a moral sense; evil; wicked; wrong; iniquitous; naughty; bad.

Of his own body he was ill, and gave The clergy ill example. Shak.

3Sense 3. Sick; indisposed; unwell; diseased; disordered; as, ill of a fever.

You wish me health in very happy season, For I am on the sudden something ill. Shak.

4Sense 4. Not accordant with rule, fitness, or propriety; incorrect; rude; unpolished; inelegant. “That's an ill phrase.” Shak.

5Sense 5. Cross; crabbed; surly; peevish;—generally with nature, temper, and the like; as, ill nature; ill temper; ill will.

Ill turn. (a.) An unkind or injurious act. (b.) A slight attack of illness. [Colloq. U. S.]

n. 1. Whatever annoys or impairs happiness, or prevents success; evil of any kind; misfortune; calamity; disease; pain.

Who can all sense of others' ills escape Is but a brute at best in human shape. Tate.

2Sense 2. Whatever is contrary to good, in a moral sense; wickedness; depravity; iniquity.

Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still, Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill. Dryden.

adv. 1. With pain or difficulty; not easily; as, he is ill able to sustain the burden.

Ill bears the sex the youthful lovers' fate, When just approaching to the nuptial state. Dryden.

2Sense 2. Not rightly or perfectly; not well. “I am very ill at ease.” Shak.

☞ Ill in composition expresses a negation of the meaning of the word to which it is prefixed, or some bad quality connected with it; as, ill-arranged, ill-assorted, ill-concerted, ill-conditioned, ill-conducted, ill-considered, ill-defined, ill-devised, ill-disposed, ill-faced, ill-fated, ill-flavored, ill-formed, ill-imagined, ill-manned, ill-mannered, ill-matched, ill-meaning, ill-modeled, ill-proportioned, ill-provided, ill-requited, ill-sorted, ill-suppressed, ill-trained, ill-used, and the like.