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:
West Midlands Ambulance Service said when David was taken ill, the service had been experiencing "significant delays offloading patients at hospital".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
While Berenger attempts to atone for his ill grace at their last meeting, a frowzy, bedridden Jean becomes increasingly antagonistic—and animalistic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
The family did not give a cause of death, but the singer-songwriter -- also an actress, philanthropist and powerful businesswoman -- had spoken about her recent ill health.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Latino men who cut artificial stone countertops in California are falling ill from an incurable and deadly lung disease at an alarming rate, a new study finds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
The fumes from the cauldron were making him thickheaded and ill, but he shook himself.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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
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 at the end, a veiled reference to the need to "support victims of some of the ills that, so tragically, exist in both our societies today".
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 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
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
Not knowing is worse than the very illest news.
From Grey Town An Australian Story by Gerald Baldwin
The reduction accounted for three-fourths of a 21% countywide decrease in RVs that kept the countywide 1.2% increase in homelessness from being worse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Would you say things turned out better or worse than the future you predicted in “Life During Wartime”? Well, we’re not having a total civil war.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
For one, the fiscal picture is objectively worse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Most own them inside a retirement account, in a bond fund or an exchange-traded fund, and that difference can make the problem worse rather than better.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
“I’ve been spoken to far worse than that in my life, trust me.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
A day earlier, Clark posted a lengthy video on social media in which he apologized for “the worst ad known to man.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
That marked the stock market’s worst performance in a decade of keynote addresses by the Fed chair at the symposium.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
In the Chicago Tribune, Gene Siskel called it “the worst major motion picture I’ve seen in almost eight years on the job.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Heatwaves have battered Europe's sugar beet crop, with France expecting its worst harvest in four years.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
And if Emma’s dad is in prison…my brain starts imagining the worst.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
