Ill Meaning
/ɪl/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjEvil; wicked (of people).
adjMorally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy.
Sentence Examples
I think you'd better take a rest; you look ill.
You are too ready to speak ill of others.
Her father is seriously ill in St Luke's hospital.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The patient felt very ____ after eating bad food and stayed in bed all day long.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The young boy stayed home from school today because he was feeling quite ____ and tired.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English ille (“evil; wicked”), from Old Norse íllr (adjective), ílla (adverb), ílt (noun), from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁elḱ- (whence Latin ulcus (“sore”), Ancient Greek ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound, ulcer”), Sanskrit अर्शस् (árśas, “hemorrhoids”)). Cognates Cognate with Scots and Yola ill, Danish ilde (“bad”), Faroese, Icelandic illur (“bad, ill, wicked”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk ille (“bad”), Swedish illa (“badly; poorly”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it."
— 1709 December 6, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon Preached before the Sons of the Clergy, at their Anniversary-Meeting, in the Church of St. Paul:
"A man who is conscious of having an ill character, cannot justly be angry with those who neglect and slight him."
— 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
"‘Go bring her. It is ill to keep a lady waiting.’"
— 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 2:
"[…]his lordship was out of humour. That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve. Stiff-rumped, that's what he was, always rubbing the rust, or riding grub, like he had been for months past."
— 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
"“We desperately needed the nursing support because our ICUs are so inundated with critically ill Covid patients,” Brown said."
— 2021 August 14, Christina Maxouris, “‘Bursting at the seams’: Full ICUs are creating a dangerous ER backlog and forcing hospitals to cancel surgeries”, in CNN:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The patient felt very ____ after eating bad food and stayed in bed all day long.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The young boy stayed home from school today because he was feeling quite ____ and tired.