ill nature
- noun
:
mal carácter
- Despite his intelligence, his ill nature often alienated his friends.
Examples
-
Somebody, the audience, "the ill nature sic which a few were forward in displaying," and the fact "that hardly anybody was disposed to give it a parting plaudit." 5
Academic text (2016) -
His ill nature made it difficult for others to approach him with their problems.
-
Her ill nature was evident when she responded harshly to the kind gesture.
Synonyms
19
5.3
A strong feeling of dislike or anger toward someone
1
8.4
A strong wish to harm others or make their lives worse
1
6.8
A bad mood when someone is angry or easily annoyed
1
9.9
A strong wish to hurt or cause pain to other people
1
9.2
Very strong, hurtful words or actions toward someone
1
4.6
A bad mood that makes someone easily angry
1
9.3
A behavior that people find morally wrong or offensive
A very harmful and cruel way of being that hurts other people
Very strong, bitter speech or writing that tries to hurt someone
Antonyms
How Hostile
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'ill' (bad/hostile) directly modifies 'nature' (temperament), so the meaning 'a disagreeable or malevolent disposition' is a straightforward compositional combination of the constituents. This adjective+noun pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Ill nature probably comes from older use of ill to mean 'bad' and nature to mean 'character'. Picture a person whose basic character is unfriendly or often angry, and that image explains why ill nature means 'an irritable or disagreeable disposition'.