ill
Usage
What are other ways to say ill?
The adjective ill is more mild than evil or wicked, and it appears mainly in certain fixed expressions: ill will; ill-natured. Evil applies to that which violates or leads to the violation of moral law: evil practices. Wicked implies willful and determined doing of what is very wrong: a wicked plan. Bad is the broadest and simplest term: a bad man; bad habits.Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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It recently occurred to Jung that all the days that she spent scrambling to save the ginkgo were the most active she had been since she fell ill last winter.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“Is he going somewhere else? Is there a problem at home? Is he sick or ill? None of that was done here.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
As miserable as that would be for retirees, one can lose sight of all the other ways Social Security reform will be transformative for the economy, for good or ill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The drug was generally well tolerated, and the critically ill patients in the trial lived longer than patients receiving standard treatments.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
Mrs. Grasso had explained what happened—that Papa had become very ill around lunchtime.
From "I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919" by Lauren Tarshis
Time, perhaps, to question whether he's got the answers to the myriad ills of his team.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
As Dan Kois illustrates in this ode to kicking back with friends, spending unstructured time together is a blessedly simple cure to the ills of modern life.
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026
As Norway advance, is Wright correct about Scottish football's ills?
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
In the video, Pratt stood outside Raman’s Silver Lake home and the city-owned Getty House in Hancock Park, where Bass lives, contending both are far removed from the urban ills that beset other Angelenos.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
“But, you,” she said, stroking my cheek, “are my sweetest gift. The life surprise that soothed all my ills and gave me my greatest joys. I feel so blessed you are mine.”
From "Ninth Ward" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
"If you have a generally iller population, that's not good for the residents, it's not good for productivity, it's not good for the economy.'"
From BBC ● May 25, 2023
This gave him an unnatural appearance and made him look iller than ever.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 30, 2019
He got iller and iller and iller, and of course he died in the beginning of 2015 when some of the other things had started appearing in the press.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2016
Last year began with my being ill, kept on with my being iller, then I was unwell, followed by being poorly with a tiny interlude of infirmity.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 15, 2012
‘You’re sorry that we are not any iller, aren’t you, Dr. Hurst?’ she remarked.
From The Youngest Girl in the School by Evelyn Sharp
The Black neighborhoods like Baldwin Hills Estates, Ladera Heights and View Park all sit hillside with some of the illest views in the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
His wife was told she should prepare for the worst, with staff describing her husband as "one of the illest people they'd ever seen".
From BBC ● May 21, 2024
Rapper Travis Scott told his nearly 12 million followers on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, that Monday “might be one for the illest days in women’s sports historyyyyyyy.”
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
It’s one of the illest, if not the illest Caribbean food spots in the city.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 22, 2022
A lingring death maye auaile my soule, but it is the illest of ills that can befortune my bodie.
From The Vnfortunate Traveller, or The Life Of Jack Wilton With An Essay On The Life And Writings Of Thomas Nash By Edmund Gosse by Edmund Gosse
While some Hollywood groups said they didn’t like the deal, they saw uncertainty from a legal stalemate as even worse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
“No university will change that much, either for the better or for the worse, in one year,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
The roughly 25% surge in the price of global benchmark Brent crude oil BRN00 to $100 a barrel in the past three months has made the affordability crisis worse for many households.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Paramount reupping its threat to leave, or even worse, decamping for someplace such as Nashville, is not a great look.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
It seemed to be ten times worse than it had been before.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Scientists say they have discovered why the bacteria responsible for the UK's worst outbreak of meningitis B in Kent earlier this year proved so dangerous.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
To produce past years’ lists, I simply took the 20 stocks with the worst year-to-date returns near the end of the third quarter.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Even if we don’t need many coders in the future, as an intellectual exercise computer science is not the worst use of time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Election experts said some of the worst threats have already been blocked, but acknowledged remaining worries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
But now the worst possible thing is happening and I’m alone.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
