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.
See Examples For:
She has begun to worry about what will happen if she falls ill.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Mr. Blyth exudes a bland wholesomeness that’s an ill fit for the cynicism and cocky humor that define his character.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Care for an ill person under 40 was particularly high — $4,700 more per year than the out-of-pocket average.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
When the researchers changed the system to predict how ill patients were, rather than how much their care would cost, the bias largely disappeared.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
By late August of 1851, Calvin grew so gravely ill that he was near death.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Pawlikowski has said that he keeps returning to the past in his films because addressing our modern ills directly would be too daunting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Like the Tech Right, these men see noble masculinity as the solution to most of society’s ills.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
De Zerbi may feel he has addressed some of the ills in a squad that has finished 17th in the Premier League two seasons in succession.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
What drives societal ills or ignites a social movement?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
In 1959 several British and French research teams found their independent studies pointing to a common conclusion — that some of humanity’s ills are caused by a disturbance of the normal chromosome number.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
"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
Blaze is just one of the illest low heads.
From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2021
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
"You may think it difficult to conceive how such offending could get worse, but it did," she told the court.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
The gas play is worse because it would also harm U.S. economic interests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Americans and Israelis are conjoined by history, for better or worse, and now see each other as distorted reflections, through a glass darkly, as the King James Bible puts it.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
A Ukrainian military officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed concerns that the fighting would be "worse than before" when it resumed.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
I thought there was no sense in making it even worse.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
They finished 1-15 that season, the franchise’s worst.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
With the worst of the monthly price declines likely in the past, building-cost inflation should ease to near zero through 2027, De Pasquale said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Intel just suffered its worst one-day stock decline in more than four decades.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
The surgeon said they could offer an " unbiased" opinion to come to "an appropriate decision between the individual that's seeking assistance and what we feel is their best and worst options".
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
The worst part was seeing people with ugly whitish scars.
From "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr
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