ILL | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

Meaning of ill in English

ill
adjective
uk
/ɪl/ us
/ɪl/

ill adjective (NOT WELL)

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A2 [ not usually before noun ]
not feeling well, or suffering from a disease:
feel ill I felt ill so I went home.
ill with He's been ill with meningitis.
fall/be taken ill Sophia fell ill/was taken ill (= became ill) while on holiday.
critically ill He is critically (= very badly) ill in hospital.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Not fit & healthy
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ill adjective (BAD)

C1 [ before noun ] formal or literary
bad:
ill health
Did you experience any ill effects from the treatment?
ill feeling There was no ill feeling between them.
ill omen The solar eclipse was considered an ill omen (= a sign something bad would happen).
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Not of good quality
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ill adjective (GOOD)

US slang
good; impressive:
That beat is so ill.
He was doing ill tricks on his skateboard.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Informal words for good
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Grammar

Ill or sick?
Ill and sick are both adjectives that mean ‘not in good health’. We use both ill and sick after a verb such as be, become, feel, look or seem: …

Idioms

be ill at ease
it's an ill wind (that blows nobody any good)
ill
adverb
uk
/ɪl/ us
/ɪl/
literary
badly:
He treated her very ill.
speak ill of someone formal or old-fashioned
to say unkind things about someone:
I realize one shouldn't speak ill of the dead.
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augur/bode ill formal or old-fashioned
to be a sign of bad things in the future:
This weather bodes ill for the garden party tonight.
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can ill afford (to do something) formal or old-fashioned (also can ill afford something)
If you can ill afford to do something, it will cause problems for you if you do it:
We can ill afford to lose another member of staff.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Not of good quality
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ill
noun
uk
/ɪl/ us
/ɪl/
[ U ] formal or old-fashioned
harm:
I wish her no ill.
[ C usually plural ]
a problem:
There seems to be no cure for the country's economic/social ills.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Damaging and spoiling
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
ill-
prefix
uk
/ɪl-/ us
/ɪl-/
in a way that is bad or not suitable:
ill-prepared
an ill-judged remark
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Linguistics: morphology & parts of words
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(Definition of ill from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

ill | American Dictionary

ill
adjective
us
/ɪl/

ill adjective (NOT HEALTHY)

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comparative worse | superlative worst
having a disease or feeling as if your body or mind has been harmed by not being able to work as it should:
I felt ill, so I went home.

ill adjective (BAD)

[ not gradable ]
bad:
Did you experience any ill effects from the treatment?

Idiom

ill at ease
ill
adverb [ not gradable ]
us
/ɪl/

ill adverb [not gradable] (BADLY)

badly, with great difficulty, or certainly not:
They could ill afford to lose all that money.
ill
noun [ C usually plural ]
us
/ɪl/

ill noun [C usually plural] (PROBLEM)

a problem or difficulty:
We thought we could solve all the community's ills and we have failed.
(Definition of ill from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of ill

ill
In addition, 5 participants died, 5 participants reported being too ill to participate, and 3 were lost due to relocation or other reasons.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Unlike those who retire on the grounds of ill health, those who take early retirement are relatively optimistic about retirement.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Given that the ill-health status group were significantly more depressed, it was likely that this factor could contribute to the cognitive impairments noted.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
First, hopelessness in medically ill patients has been found to have a direct impact on health status.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The ill-posedness in this case simply means that there may exist other missing physical effects that have to be included in formulating a mathematical problem.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
We could easily prevent the formation of ill-formed messages and actor states if so desired.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In this regard, there are echoes of the central problem addressed here concerning an excess of poorly defined terms that are ill-constrained in their usage.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
It is not that these economists are ignorant of institutions, rather they are methodologically ill-equipped to deal with them.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The two non-responses arose through the ill health of one client and the death of another.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
That could well be what he did, but it cannot be ascribed to actual ill will on his behalf.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Assistance from family members, friends, paid care givers, and volunteers in the care of terminally ill patients.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Those who were ill in the past 2 weeks or had an ill child in diapers were excluded from work for 1 day.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Because of lower compliance rates, the second study may have been more vulnerable to bias in excluding more ill relatives from direct interview.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Factors preceding the onset of meningococcal disease, with special emphasis on passive smoking, stressful events, physical fitness, symptoms of ill health.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The burden of ill health resulting from social inequality is again seen to fall on the poor alone.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of ill
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of ill, ill-?
 
A2,C1

Translations of ill

in Chinese (Traditional)
不舒服的, 生病的，不舒服的, 壞的…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
不舒服的, 生病的，不舒服的, 坏的…
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in Spanish
enfermo, enfermo/ma [masculine-feminine], malo/la [masculine-feminine]…
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in Portuguese
doente, enfermo, ruim…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
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in Hindi
in Gujarati
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in Arabic
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in Italian
आजारी, वाईट…
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病気の, “I will” の短縮形, 病気（びょうき）の…
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kötü, yetersiz, uygunsuz anlamında önek…
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malade, mauvais/-aise, mal…
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malalt, forma abreujada de “I will”…
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ziek, slecht, schadelijk…
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உடல்நிலை சரியில்லை, அல்லது ஒரு நோயால் பாதிக்கப்படுவதில்லை, மோசமான…
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बीमार, अस्वस्थ, रोगग्रस्त…
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બીમાર, ખરાબ…
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syg, dårlig, uheldig…
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sjuk, dålig, illvillig…
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sakit, buruk, malang…
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krank, nachteilig, schlecht…
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syk, dårlig, skadelig…
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بیمار, مبتلا, خراب…
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хворий, слабий, поганий…
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ఆరోగ్యం బాగా లేకపోవడం లేదా ఏదైనా జబ్బుతో బాధపడుతూ ఉండడం, చెడు…
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مَريض, اِخْتِصار I will…
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অসুস্থ, পীড়িত, খারাপ…
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nemocný, špatný, nešťastný…
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sakit, buruk, tidak mudah…
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เจ็บป่วย, ป่วย, ไม่สบาย…
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ốm, xấu, không may…
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źle, chory, zły…
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아픈, “I will”의 축약형…
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malato, forma contratta di “I will”, cattivo…
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iliopsoas
iliotibial
ilium
ilk
ill
ill at ease idiom
ill health
ill will
ill, good, etc. repute phrase

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