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:
Despite exhaustive testing, experts could not figure out exactly why Jackie was so ill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
It comes after the UK Health Security Agency declared a national outbreak of salmonella food poisoning after one person died and hundreds more fell ill.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
She explained that Randall, who died in 2023 at age 57, had been ill for half of their relationship and that his diagnosis came amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 took a more practical approach, aiming to ensure Americans don’t have to wait until they’re catastrophically ill to receive meaningful care.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
“He took ill just before we boarded the train,” Mr. Bangs explained.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
What drives societal ills or ignites a social movement?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 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
An experience completely ignorant to the ills of modern football, to politics, ticket prices or hydration breaks.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 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
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
This, in turn, was the very thing to keep him but ill at ease with himself, and iller at ease, if not at downright loggerheads, with everybody else.
From The Red Moccasins A Story by Morrison Heady
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
Not knowing is worse than the very illest news.
From Grey Town An Australian Story by Gerald Baldwin
Another said "it will get worse before it gets better".
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
If Wendy Wasserstein wrote a worse play than “An American Daughter,” I hope I never have the misfortune of seeing it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Healthy habits, along with medical treatments when needed, may also help slow the condition from getting worse.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
Treasury market risks getting worse come September, right as many of the world’s largest companies plan to unleash a new deluge of bond issuance.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
Doing it with practically a blank page in front of me would be even worse.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
The removal of Jose Gabriel Espinoza comes as Bolivia suffers through its worst economic turbulence in four decades, which the center-right Paz, elected last year, is under pressure to fix.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
Got to be a kid, which means unfinished, which means more than the worst thing you were ever flagged for.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
It turned out to be "the worst TUI holiday we've ever been on", he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
But at worst, it could lead to losses, and a drying-up of data-center business if hyperscalers scrap their off-grid power plans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
“You know what the worst thing is? I was even kind of happy when I pulled this out of the mailbox. Like, ‘Hey, I’m not just the new kid anymore.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
