Ill-defined
adj
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Poorly defined; blurry, out of focus; lacking a clear boundary.
"An ill-defined dislike, a little like jealousy, arose in Henrietta's mind; a little, however, mitigated by observing that the gentleman instantly caught sight of herself; and that, when not absolutely forced to look at his companion, he looked towards her."
- 2 Defined in an inconsistent way.
Adjective
- 1 poorly stated or described wordnet
Example
More examples"An ill-defined dislike, a little like jealousy, arose in Henrietta's mind; a little, however, mitigated by observing that the gentleman instantly caught sight of herself; and that, when not absolutely forced to look at his companion, he looked towards her."
Etymology
From ill + defined.
Related phrases
More for "ill-defined"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.