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:
The count was up from 44 people who had come in contact with a woman who fell ill with Ebola in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026
“This was an execution of a mentally ill man,” said Garza’s attorney, Rebecca Brown, at a news conference Friday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026
Clinical psychologist Dr Kirren Schnack says health anxiety is "a constant worry about being seriously ill or becoming seriously ill when you are not".
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
The Mahatir Mohammad Zain Foundation, a disaster relief NGO, said the 51-year-old volunteer passed away after falling ill with chest tightness while helping fight a fire in the Barito Kuala Regency.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026
Once I became sick and leaned over the side of the sled and was violently ill and the dogs turned and came back to eat it, which made me sicker.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
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
To remedy these ills, the court needs top-to-bottom reform.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
Ultimately, a ballot initiative won’t cure the ills that plague healthcare in the United States, said the Lown Institute’s Saini.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
But Gouzer said he expects Banksy’s market to keep rebuilding, thanks to a fresh influx of younger tech collectors and international wild-card buyers who admire the roguish way Banksy skewers societal ills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
Ma believed that her bone soup could cure all kinds of ills.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
"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
‘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
There was just a little milk that was reserved for the illest patients, no butter or bread.
From Field Hospital and Flying Column Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister in Belgium & Russia by Violetta Thurstan
"We have evidence that poor adherence to antihypertensive medication is associated with worse outcomes," explained presenter, Miss Qianqian Yang from the University of Oxford, UK.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026
But the campaign raises a question that isn’t easily settled by viral videos or produce puns: Are men genuinely worse at grocery shopping, or have they become the convenient faces of a much broader problem?
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026
“It’s likely to get worse before it gets better,” said Daniel Swain, a UC Agriculture and Natural Resources climate scientist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026
Only Manchester United - 1.16 in 1996-97 and 1.18 in 1999-00 - have won the Premier League title with a goals against rate worse than Man City's current 1.13 per game.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
Nobody would miss Miss Myrt, so Preacher Parr got them to miss the good old days when the winters were worse and the kids were better.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
It is believed to be the worst recorded incident of its type in Europe.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
However, it’s down 26% from an all-time high reached June 22, and has lost 14% in October, putting it on track for its worst monthly return since July.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
Those worries resurfaced this past week, when Meta’s plans for a cash-raising spree helped trigger one of the Nasdaq’s worst selloffs this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
Ahead of the visit, Guyana's President Irfaan Ali said his country would continue to champion the reparation issue "because slavery was the worst indignity to humankind".
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026
The words it held were both a relief and the worst thing he could possibly imagine.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
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