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ill-natured

ill-natured

7.4
Being easily annoyed and often unkind to others
  • adjective
  • /ˌɪlˈneɪtʃərd/
translation icon : malhumorado
  • She was so ill-natured that even a small mistake annoyed her greatly.

Examples

  • His ill-natured remarks made it impossible for anyone to enjoy the party.

  • At the first performance, his ill-natured colleague Erik Satie went up to the composer and said: "I particularly liked the passage around half past eleven."

    Academic text (1996)
  • Both the extremes of silly smiles and melancholy or ill-natured expressions were to be avoided, as well as all unnatural distortions of the face.

    Academic text (1996)
  • After a long day, I became ill-natured and snapped at my friends.

Synonyms

mean
vsill-natured
699 2.2

Unkind and cruel toward other people

is wider, covering irritability and unpleasantness not only cruelty
unpleasant
vsill-natured
215 1.0

Not nice and causing discomfort or unhappiness

is more specific about having an annoyed or unkind character
hostile
vsill-natured
194 4.6

Showing strong dislike or opposition

expresses a wider unpleasant temperament rather than active opposition
unkind
vsill-natured
44 1.0

Not friendly or caring to other people

adds irritability and a generally unpleasant attitude beyond mere unkindness
unfriendly
vsill-natured
22 1.9

Not kind or warm to other people

includes lack of warmth but also an easily annoyed temper
ornery
vsill-natured
  • Informal
22 8.5

Being bad-tempered and stubborn, often hard to deal with

focuses more on general unpleasantness than on stubborn difficulty
short-tempered
vsill-natured
4 4.2

Quick to get angry or easily annoyed

describes a broader bad temperament rather than just speed of anger
ill-tempered
vsill-natured
4 5.7

Easily annoyed and quick to get angry

covers both irritability and a generally unpleasant manner rather than just anger
bad-tempered
vsill-natured
3 3.5

Quick to get angry or annoyed

is more about a lasting unpleasant disposition and lack of warmth
ill-humored
vsill-natured
  • US
1 7.0

Being often in a bad mood and unfriendly

includes that grumpiness but also a more general unpleasantness in character
meanspirited
vsill-natured
  • Offensive
7.4

Unkind and petty in a way that hurts other people

is less about cruelty and more about an overall bad disposition

Antonyms

534 1.0

Being helpful and caring toward other people

19 2.4

Being friendly, cheerful, and easy to get along with

How Good-Natured

good-natured
19 2.4
pleasant
89 1.0
unkind
44 1.0
ill-natured
7.4
nasty
  • Offensive
457 1.8

Surface Forms

ill-natured positive

Morphology

ill-natured = nature (semi-transparent) = ill + nature + ed

The prefix 'ill-' suggests a negative quality, and 'nature' relates to disposition, but the specific meaning of 'ill-natured' as 'bad-tempered' is not entirely obvious.

Etymology

Ill-natured comes from the parts ill and nature. Here ill means 'bad' rather than 'sick', and nature means 'character', so an ill-natured person has a 'bad character' and is often unpleasant or easily annoyed.