Ill in Scrabble Dictionary

Valid words made from Ill

You can make 2 words from 'ill' in our Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

• 3 letters words from 'ill'
• 2 letters words from 'ill'

3 letters words from 'ill'

ILL 3

2 letters words from 'ill'

LI 2

Definitions and meaning of ill

ill

Etymology

From Middle English ille (“evil; wicked”), from Old Norse illr (adj), illa (adverb), ilt (noun) (whence Icelandic illur, Norwegian ille, Danish ilde), from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁elk- (whence Latin ulcus (“sore”), Ancient Greek ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound, ulcer”), Sanskrit अर्शस् (árśas, “hemorrhoids”) (whence Hindi अर्श (arś)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪl/
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Adjective

ill (comparative worse or iller or more ill, superlative worst or illest or most ill)

1. (obsolete) Evil; wicked (of people). [13th-19th c.]
   • (Can we date this quote by Francis Atterbury and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

     St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.

   • A man who is conscious of having an ill character, cannot justly be angry with those who neglect and slight him.

2. (archaic) Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy. [from 13th c.]
   • 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, p. 2:

     ‘Go bring her. It is ill to keep a lady waiting.’

3. Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel. [from 14th c.]

4. Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.
5. Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick. [from 15th c.]

6. Having an urge to vomit. [from 20th c.]

7. (hip-hop slang) Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way.
   • 1986, Beastie Boys, License to Ill
   • 1994, Biggie Smalls, The What

     Biggie Smalls is the illest / Your style is played out, like Arnold wonderin "Whatchu talkin bout, Willis?"

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

9. (dated) Unwise; not a good idea.
   • (Can we date this quote by George Swinnock and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

     Oh that when the devil and flesh entice the sinner to sport with and make a mock of sin, Prov. x. 23, he would but consider, it is ill jesting with edged tools, it is ill jesting with unquenchable burnings; […]

   • 1914, Indian Ink (volume 1, page 32)

     They arrested everybody—and it is ill to resist a drunken Tommy with a loaded rifle!

Usage notes

• The comparative worse and superlative worst are the standard forms. The forms iller and illest are also used in American English, but are less than a quarter as frequent as "more" and "most" forms. The forms iller, illest are quite common in the slang sense "sublime".

Synonyms

• (suffering from a disease): diseased, poorly (UK), sick, under the weather (informal), unwell
• (having an urge to vomit): disgusted, nauseated, nauseous, sick, sickened
• (bad): bad, mal-
• (in hip-hop slang: sublime): dope
• See also Thesaurus:diseased

Antonyms

• (suffering from a disease): fine, hale, healthy, in good health, well
• (bad): good
• (in hip-hop slang: sublime): wack

Derived terms

Translations

References

Adverb

ill (comparative worse or more ill, superlative worst or most ill)

1. Not well; imperfectly, badly; hardly.
   • 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House

     Within, I found it, as I had expected, transcendently dismal. The slowly changing shadows waved on it from the heavy trees, were doleful in the last degree; the house was ill-placed, ill-built, ill-planned, and ill-fitted.

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 541:

     His inflexibility and blindness ill become a leader, for a leader must temper justice with mercy.

   • 2006, Julia Borossa (translator), Monique Canto-Sperber (quoted author), in Libération, 2002 February 2, quoted in Élisabeth Badinter (quoting author), Dead End Feminism, Polity, →ISBN, page 40:

     Is it because this supposes an undifferentiated violence towards others and oneself that I could ill imagine in a woman?

Synonyms

• illy

Antonyms

• well

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

ill (countable and uncountable, plural ills)

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

2. Harm or injury.

3. Evil; moral wrongfulness.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

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

4. A physical ailment; an illness.

5. (US, slang, uncountable) PCP, phencyclidine.

Derived terms

• for good or ill

Translations

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.

Further reading

• ill at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Lil, li'l, li'l', lil

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Scots

Adjective

ill (comparative waur, superlative warst)

1. ill
2. bad, evil, wicked
3. harsh, severe
4. profane
5. difficult, troublesome
6. awkward, unskilled

Adverb

ill (comparative waur, superlative warst)

1. ill
2. badly, evilly, wickedly
3. harshly, severely
4. profanely
5. with difficulty
6. awkwardly, inexpertly

Noun

ill (plural ills)

1. ill
2. ill will, malice

---

Westrobothnian

Alternative forms

• il

Etymology

From Old Norse illr, from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European * h₁elk-.

Adjective

ill (neuter illt)

1. evil, bad

   Han iles onga

   The evil one's kids

   Ja har illt i fotom

   I have pain in my feet.

   Han har illt uti säg

   He is concerned.

   Han har illt ini säg

   He has stomach pains.

   Ji hav illt hóvudä

   I have a headache.

Derived terms

Source: wiktionary.org

• unwell.
  (source: Collins Scrabble Dictionary)

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