ILL TEMPER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Ill temper

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/ɪl tˈɛmpər/ Listen

adjective

Ill adj. (compar. iller; superl. illest)

1.

Contrary to good, in a physical sense; contrary or opposed to advantage, happiness, etc.; bad; evil; unfortunate; disagreeable; unfavorable. "Neither is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but ill ways, ill markets, and ill neighbors." "There 's some ill planet reigns."

2.

Contrary to good, in a moral sense; evil; wicked; wrong; iniquitious; naughtly; bad; improper. "Of his own body he was ill, and gave The clergy ill example."

3.

Sick; indisposed; unwell; diseased; disordered; as, ill of a fever. "I am in health, I breathe, and see thee ill."

4.

Not according with rule, fitness, or propriety; incorrect; rude; unpolished; inelegant. "That 's an ill phrase."

Ill at ease, uneasy; uncomfortable; anxious. "I am very ill at ease."

Ill blood, enmity; resentment; bad blood.

Ill breeding, lack of good breeding; rudeness.

Ill fame, ill or bad repute; as, a house of ill fame, a house where lewd persons meet for illicit intercourse.

Ill humor, a disagreeable mood; bad temper.

Ill nature, bad disposition or temperament; sullenness; esp., a disposition to cause unhappiness to others.

Ill temper, anger; moroseness; crossness.

Ill turn.

(a)

An unkind act.

(b)

A slight attack of illness. (Colloq. U.S.) Ill will, unkindness; enmity; malevolence.

Synonyms: Bad; evil; wrong; wicked; sick; unwell.

See images of 'Ill temper'

Etymology of 'Ill temper'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ill temper" Quotes from Famous Books

... threw a cloth over his lenses and calmly lighted a cigarette. The procession halted in uncertainty and became a disordered rabble; but the director sprang into the open space and shouted at his actors and actresses in evident ill temper. ...

— Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West • Edith Van Dyne

... P. Fessenden as Secretary of the Treasury was a natural one to be made, and received the cordial support of Members of the Senate, even of those who did not like his occasional ill temper and bitterness. And here I may properly pause to notice the traits of two men with whom I was closely identified in public life, and for whom I had the highest personal regard, although they widely ...

— Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet - An Autobiography. • John Sherman

... of ill temper distressed his mother exceedingly, but she did not say any thing to him then; being a woman of excellent sense, she formed a plan in her mind which she hoped ...

— The Big Nightcap Letters - Being the Fifth Book of the Series • Frances Elizabeth Barrow

... round the corner by the church, and into the field in which the hounds were assembled. The fire had become too hot for him, and he thought it best to escape. Had it been Vavasor alone he would have turned upon him and snarled, but he could not afford to exhibit any ill temper to the king of the club. Mr Grindley was not popular, and were Maxwell to turn openly against him his sporting life down at Roebury would ...

— Can You Forgive Her? • Anthony Trollope

... rain falling, the city gray, all the world black-clad and dripping and sour of countenance. The veiled man said never a word; he held the boy's hand tight, and strode gloomily on—silent of melancholy, of protest, of ill temper: there was no knowing, for his face was hid. The woman, distinguished by a mass of blinding blonde hair and a complexion susceptible to change by the weather, was dressed in the ultra-fashionable way—the small differences of style all accentuated: the whole tawdry and shabby and limp ...

— The Mother • Norman Duncan

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