ILLS Synonyms: 127 Similar and Opposite Words

ills

noun

plural of ill

as in diseases

an abnormal state that disrupts a plant's or animal's normal bodily functioning chicken pox and the other ills that were once a fixture of childhood

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as in evils

that which is morally unacceptable idealistic people who try to cure all of our society's ills

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in misfortunes

bad luck or an example of this the travelers merrily set off on their journey, scarcely imagining the ills that would befall them

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of ills Now, in The Social Reckoning, Sorkin focuses on the ills of the company Facebook eventually became. — Eliana Dockterman, Time, 7 Oct. 2026 The game’s maker, Paolo Pedercini, has long diagnosed the ills of modern capitalism through countercultural video games like Phone Story (2011), which depicted the exploitative supply chain of a smartphone. — Lewis Gordon, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2026 His final essay collection asks many provocative questions about industrialism and apathy, but (perhaps wisely) offers no solutions to the world’s ills. — Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026 In this framework, the cure for the party’s ills can only come from inside the party, not from any external force. — Andrew Mertha, Foreign Affairs, 17 Sep. 2026 But unlike Transcription or George Saunders’s Vigil, the year’s other novel about a rich old man on his way to the underworld, this book doesn’t try to diagnose our collective ills. — Emma Alpern, Vulture, 7 Sep. 2026 The colonial latifundium, instead of being abolished by independence, was strengthened, leading to any number of national ills. — Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2026 Blaming billionaire wealth-hoarding for America’s ills would poll very well among the nation’s anthropology departments. — Gilad Edelman, The Atlantic, 19 July 2026 Last month, Kwon’s team, in collaboration with Seongju Kim at Hanbat National University, in Daejeon, South Korea, presented its solution to HBM’s future ills. — IEEE Spectrum, 8 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ills

Noun

Blood tests and biopsies are typically used to study immune biomarkers for skin diseases like psoriasis and vitiligo.

— Erica Sweeney, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
Vaccines have been so successful that many of today’s parents and many young pediatricians have never seen what these diseases can do.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of diseases

Noun

One key objection was the mature tone of the narrative, in which the child protagonist is directly confronted and endangered by the evils derived from fascist ideologies.

— Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
For many, recognizing the evils Hamas committed on October 7 obviated the need to understand them.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026

Definition of evils

Noun

Poliński said Zosia would likely have been blamed for misfortunes such as disease and famine that often plagued the region in the 17th century, which people sometimes attributed to supernatural activity by the dead.

— Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
But the fire this time was started by a son, which led to raging misfortunes that consumed his three brothers one by one, leaving only ashen memories for his surviving sister and aged parents to sift through.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of misfortunes

Noun

But by the first week of September, the Dodgers could no longer argue that his poor performance wasn’t necessarily connected to his ailments.

— Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
Symptoms of lung cancer can include coughing, shortness of breath, overwhelming fatigue and pain in the back, chest or shoulder, which could be confused for other ailments.

— Estelamari Rodriguez, The Conversation, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of ailments

Noun

But the two bills Newsom vetoed on Wednesday, AB 1881 and AB 2218, sought to redress those historic wrongs by requiring the state to take Indigenous history with land and waterways into account, proponents of them said.

— Andrew Graham, Sacbee.com, 1 Oct. 2026
Billy Baker giving [Preach] a second chance at life to right his wrongs and become a teacher…that’s real life.

— Katie Campione, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of wrongs

Noun

Prime Minister Mark Carney called the blaze one of the worst peacetime tragedies to strike Canada's armed forces on home soil, according to Reuters.

— Stephen Sorace , Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2026
What happened to Gates is one of several tragedies involving postal workers in extreme Texas heat in recent years.

— Ginger Allen, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of tragedies

Noun

Medical schools employ people to portray patients with specific symptoms, emotional reactions and medical histories, giving students a chance to practice everything from diagnosing illnesses to delivering difficult news.

— Daniel Hunt, Sacbee.com, 18 Oct. 2026
There were many individuals who appeared before me who had chronic illnesses.

— Annie Nova, CNBC, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of illnesses

Noun

In addition to public goods, AI will also create public bads.

— James Broughel, Forbes.com, 8 June 2026
Naturally, the meeting is a flop because no one was prepared, and their spontaneous ideas are frankly fireable-offense bad (a baguette bag shaped like a baguette for Paris?

— Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2025