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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Pretty soon, I had shaken off my judgy ill temper, and returned to a state of benevolent appreciation for someone who was, for the most part, a pretty great colleague.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Two of these individuals traveled to an outbreak-affected state, ate at a Taco Bell and became ill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
While deathly ill in 1373, a devout 30-year-old English mystic known as Julian of Norwich had a series of 16 visions of the divine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Among the contestants is 33-year-old Ioan Humphreys, who took over his family farm in Carno when was 20 after his father became ill.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
His father was still deathly ill, lying down in the larger canoe that followed him.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
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
The Swiss are largely well-governed, and the country’s appeal is understandable to people who want to escape the tax rates and other ills that are common elsewhere in Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 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
A Google user experience team two years later detailed ills affecting viewer well-being, based on external research.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Without equality, eugenics would inevitably falter on the false premise that social ills, such as vagrancy, pauperism, deviance, alcoholism, and feeblemindedness were genetic ills—while, in fact, they merely reflected inequality.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
"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
Still, in his older, iller years, he's become kinder, even to himself, and though he wished he'd done some stuff better, he could live with it.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 23, 2012
A lot of lassies like yon will be iller to keep together than a flock of sheep.
From The Lady of the Shroud by Bram Stoker
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
To make matters worse, McLaren's mechanics had trouble with both the right-hand side wheels, and the stop took seven seconds rather than the usual two.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
He’s worried that the frenzied online discourse will only make the problem worse.
From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2026
"It can get worse, but it's already bad now," she told the same forum.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
A lower premium isn’t the bargain it appears to be if the policy’s cancellation leaves you with this kind of uncertainty and, worse, a gap in your coverage.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 12, 2026
This is even worse than hills saying hello, he thought while watching the loose ribbon inexplicably fall to the ground.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
The Arizona Cardinals have been tipped by many to finish with the NFL's worst record, while the Los Angeles Chargers are seen as play-off contenders.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
He said it was “the worst version of myself that I’ve put out there” and that he was intent on making sure he would be better.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Shortly after Canada and America became embroiled in the worst bilateral trade war in their modern history, the secure phones of Europe’s top leaders lit up with a trans-Atlantic call.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
France remained the worst offender for delays caused by air traffic control management problems, accounting for 32 percent of all delays on its own.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
The worst was when spinach juice got onto mashed potatoes and turned them green.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
