adjective

• 1Having an unhealthy appearance.

  ‘an assortment of ill-looking characters were already waiting for the surgery to open’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Two of the horses stood with their heads down; ribs striped their ill-looking flanks.’
  • ‘The child is particularly ill-looking during the first days of the rash.’
  • ‘She saw his expression change as he heard her carefully worded reply; he turned first red and then an ill-looking pale shade.’
  • ‘It was ill-looking and its eyes looked bloodshot but it kept on desperately digging.’
  • ‘On Saturday morning a neighbour discovered a thin and ill-looking cat resembling the once-plump Brandy in his back garden and alerted Mrs Perkins' daughter.’
  • ‘The high pace and the rough weather conditions made the field crumble and an ill-looking Bradley Wiggins was defeated on the flat road headed towards the finish line.’
  • ‘Pictures of stick-thin, actually quite ill-looking young women are plastered everywhere.’
  • ‘Emma looks terrible, so drawn and ill looking.’
  • ‘Naturally slim is one thing, ill looking is quite another.’

• 2Not pleasing to look at; unattractive.

  ‘he was not ill-looking though he was not really handsome either’

  More example sentences

  • ‘William is an amiable fellow, and not ill-looking either.’
  • ‘You are not precisely handsome, but you are not ill looking, and you have impeccable family connections.’
  • ‘"Well, yes, she is not ill-looking," Harbury admitted grudgingly.’
  • ‘My aunt was a tall, hard-featured lady, but by no means ill-looking.’
  • ‘It's a dark, dirty, black ill-looking square.’
  • ‘The city presented, at first view, nothing but a mass of ill-looking houses, built of earth.’