Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Badly brought up; impolite and crude.
  • adjective Not thoroughbred; underbred. Used of animals.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Badly brought up; impolite; rude.
  • Badly bred, as a mongrel dog.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Badly educated or brought up; impolite; incivil; rude. See Note under ill, adv.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective ill-mannered and unrefined because of a bad upbringing or education
  • adjective of animals of bad breed

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of persons) lacking in refinement or grace

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Except, wait, what the hell does it mean for a word to be “ill-bred”?

    Accept the invite « Motivated Grammar 2009

  • But I see him for what he is, a nasty, ill-bred creature who thinks he's great.

    Mark J. Hulkower, prosecutor in Aldrich Ames spy case, dies at 53 T. Rees Shapiro 2011

  • But I see him for what he is, a nasty, ill-bred creature who thinks he's great.

    Mark J. Hulkower, prosecutor in Aldrich Ames spy case, dies at 53 T. Rees Shapiro 2011

  • I apologized profusely and explained that I was an American who was not only rude but clearly ill-bred.

    An American Wine Lover in Paris Lettie Teague 2012

  • I plan on rubbing this in for a while as an object lesson to others who consider a career as an ill-bred shill.

    Sen. Bob Bennett (R, UT) will not be re-elected. | RedState 2010

  • Except, wait, what the hell does it mean for a word to be “ill-bred”?

    2009 July « Motivated Grammar 2009

  • Clemens spent most of his time at the opening session observing a particularly ill-bred Washoe delegate, “Colonel” Jonathan Williams, eating an eighteen-pound raw turnip at his desk while simultaneously ushering through committee a sinuous new bill for a toll road that stretched conveniently from one tollhouse to another.

    LIGHTING OUT FOR THE TERRITORY JR. ROY MORRIS 2010

  • "These kids are so appallingly ill-bred," Peter said of certain players, though there were few around this late in the tournament.

    Tennis Frat Boy for a Day 2010

  • I told him he was ill-mannered and ill-bred and unappreciative of Mr. Purcel, who works hard on behalf of his clients.

    The Glass Rainbow James Lee Burke 2010

  • Clemens spent most of his time at the opening session observing a particularly ill-bred Washoe delegate, “Colonel” Jonathan Williams, eating an eighteen-pound raw turnip at his desk while simultaneously ushering through committee a sinuous new bill for a toll road that stretched conveniently from one tollhouse to another.

    LIGHTING OUT FOR THE TERRITORY JR. ROY MORRIS 2010

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