Poorly

Definition: Poorly

Poorly

Adjective

1. Somewhat ill or prone to illness; "my poor ailing grandmother"; "feeling a bit indisposed today"; "you look a little peaked"; "feeling poorly"; "a sickly child"; "is unwell and can't come to work".

Adverb

1. (`ill' is often used as a combining form) in a poor or improper or unsatisfactory manner; not well; "he was ill prepared"; "it ill befits a man to betray old friends"; "the car runs badly"; "he performed badly on the exam"; "the team played poorly"; "ill-fitting clothes"; "an ill-conceived plan".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "poorly" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references)

Synonyms: Poorly

Disease

Adjective: diseased; ailing; Verb: ill, ill of; taken ill, seized with; indisposed, unwell, sick, squeamish, poorly, seedy; affected with illness, afflicted with illness; laid up, confined, bedridden, invalided, in hospital, on the sick list; out of health, out of sorts; under the weather; valetudinary.

Poverty

Adjective: poor, indigent; poverty-stricken; badly off, poorly off, ill off; poor as a rat, poor as a church mouse, poor as a Job; fortuneless, dowerless, moneyless, penniless; unportioned, unmoneyed; impecunious; out of money, out of cash, short of money, short of cash; without a rap, not worth a rap;(money); qui n'a pas le sou, out of pocket, hard up; out at elbows, out at heels; seedy, bare-footed; beggarly, beggared; fleeced, stripped; bereft, bereaved; reduced; homeless.

Crosswords: Poorly

Elaine, do you have any idea what happens to a butter-based frosting after sitting 60 years in a poorly ventilated English basement (Seinfeld; writing credit: Andreas Lenze; Bea Schmidt)

There is no shame in being poor, only dressing poorly! (Zorro, the Gay Blade; writing credit: Hal Dresner.)

Jules fits you so poorly that it fits you very well (Diva; writing credit: Jean-Jacques Beineix; Daniel Odier)

He chose poorly. (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; writing credit: Mario Van Peebles)

For far too long, the Quik Stop has been a home for rampant overcharging and poorly educated, rude clerks (Clerks; writing credit: Paul Dini; Brian Kelley)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Chronic Illness and Uncertainty: A Personal and Professional Guide to Poorly Understood Syndromes, What We Know and Don't Know About Fibromyalgia, ch (reference)

• Living Poorly in America (reference)

• Poorly collected and presumably rare vascular plants in Western Australia (reference)

• Poorly Differentiated Neoplasmas and Tumors of the Unknown Origin (Clinical Oncology Monographs) (reference)

• Poorly Performing States: Challenges for U.S. Policy (reference)

  (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Brucella spp. are poorly staining, small gram-negative coccobacilli (0.5-0.7 x 0.6-1.5 µm), and are seen mostly as single cells and appearing like “fine sand”. Credit: CDC.

Francisella tularensis is a poorly staining, very tiny gram-negative coccobacillus (0.2-0.7 µm), seen mostly as single cells. Bipolar staining is not a distinctive feature. Credit: CDC.

An alveolar duct is seen in the center. The alveoli are poorly developed and have markedly thickened walls. Macrophages are present in the alveolar spaces; H&E stain; magnification 100X. Credit: CDC.

Grass pasture in southern Iowa, where highly erodible, poorly producing soils are often better suited to pastures than to cropland. Credit: Lynn Betts.

Plant pathologist Frank Martin examines cultures of different root pathogens that can reduce yields of strawberries grown in poorly or nonfumigated soil. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer..

The suicide, a poorly dressed laborer, had staggered around in a circle nearly ten feet in diameter after gashing his own throat. Credit: Library of Congress.

Scene of a replaced village of Sobe, Yomitan-son, with poorly constructed houses of people whose land was requisitioned for military use. Credit: Library of Congress.

Black boy, dressed in white, sitting in a poorly furnished room in which everything has been coated in white paint. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

The hospital was poorly endowed, and he made provision for ten additional beds

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

Risk factors are poorly delineated. (references)

Wounds heal poorly and may leave scars. (references)

Endometriosis is a common yet poorly understood disease. (references)

Business

Currently, the POS/ATM market in Ukraine is poorly developed. (references)

During the Soviet era, telecommunications sector in the Russian Far East was poorly financed and undeveloped. (references)

The banking system is still very poorly developed, and no foreign banks have full capacity operations in Uzbekistan. (references)

Children

Somalia

Teachers are trained poorly and paid poorly. (references)

Nepal

Basic health care is provided free to children and adults at government clinics, but they are poorly equipped and too few in number to meet the demand. (references)

Kazakhstan

Mentally ill and mentally retarded citizens can be committed to institutions run by the State; these institutions are poorly run and inadequately funded. (references)

Civil Liberties

Dominican Republic

If such persons speak Spanish poorly or with a noticeable accent, they generally are detained and deported. (references)

Nigeria

They tend to be produced poorly, have limited circulation, and require large state subsidies to continue operating. (references)

Economic History

Turkey

Parts, which need to be replaced frequently because of poorly maintained roads, heavy traffic, traffic accidents, and poor fuel quality, can also be considered as "best prospects." Examples include: shock absorbers, brakes, clutches, rings, filters, bumpers, lights, and signaling equipment to name but a few. (references)

Human Rights

Mozambique

The bail system remains poorly defined, and prisoners, their families, and NGO's continue to complain that police and prison officials demand bribes to release prisoners. (references)

Tajikistan

Judges at the local, regional, and national level for the most part are poorly trained and lack understanding of the concept of an independent judiciary. (references)

Mexico

Provision of translators to non-Spanish speaking defendants, including indigenous ones, is provided for but poorly implemented, resulting in prisoners being convicted without fully understanding the documents they have been required to sign. (references)

Indigenous People

Honduras

Indigenous and ancestral lands often are defined poorly in documents dating back to the mid-19th century and, in most cases, lack any legal title based on modern cadastral surveys. (references)

Brazil

FUNAI depends on the Federal Police, an understaffed and poorly equipped agency, for law enforcement on indigenous lands. (references)

Minorities

Hungary

Schools for the Roma are more crowded, more poorly equipped, and in markedly poorer condition than those attended by non-Roma. (references)

Political Economy

BOLIVIA

The Labor Ministry's Bureau of Occupational Safety has responsibility for protection of workers' health and safety, but relevant standards are poorly enforced. (references)

Venezuela

Severe overcrowding in prisons continued to decrease; however, general prison conditions remained harsh due to underfunding, poorly trained and corrupt staff, and violence and overcrowding in some prisons so severe as to constitute inhuman and degrading treatment. (references)

Liberia

There also are numerous irregular security services attached to certain key ministries and parastatal corporations, the responsibilities of which appear to be defined poorly. (references)

Political Rights

Guinea-Bissau

In November 2000, in response to President Yala's promotion of 30 officers without Mane's authorization, General Mane initiated a poorly organized, little-supported coup attempt. (references)

Madagascar

Other parties criticized the elections as poorly organized and fraudulent; a lack of transparency made it difficult to assess reliably the extent of abuses. (references)

Kyrgyz Republic

There were candidate observers in most, if not all, precincts, although they tended to be poorly trained and unwilling to challenge precinct commissions. (references)

Trade

Ukraine

Firms complain that the VAT system is poorly administered and some firms have reported that their VAT refund claims were not honored. (references)

Armenia

Some procurement projects are being financed by the World Bank and EBRD (see para 8.6). The insurance sector in Armenia is poorly developed, although a growing number of companies are now offering these services. (references)

Thailand

In the years before the crisis, the Thai financial sector grew rapidly, but it was poorly regulated and mismanaged . However, with the cooperation of the IMF and other multilateral and bilateral donors, the government is now attempting to bring financial sector practices in line with international standards . Accounting, auditing standards, and corporate governance are being upgraded . Also regulatory and corporate governance requirements for listed companies are being strengthened . In the banking sector, the Bank of Thailand, with multilateral and bilateral assistance, is improving its examination and supervision functions, and banks are required to meet BIS capitalization standards . Central bank regulators are reviewing new guidelines on related lending by commercial banks to shareholders, directors or subsidiary companies . (references)

Travel

Egypt

The Cairo Metro system is good, but busses and commuter micro-busses are usually extremely crowded and poorly maintained. (references)

Eq. Guinea

Equatorial Guinea has a poorly developed private sector, and its business community closely follows a Spanish colonial pattern of behavior. (references)

Nepal

Vehicles are poorly maintained; sidewalks and pedestrian crossings are non-existent in many areas; and drivers do not yield pedestrians the right of way. (references)

Women

Indonesia

Violence against women remains poorly documented. (references)

Ukraine

However, despite implementation of a government program to combat dangerous labor, these laws remain poorly enforced. (references)

South Africa

Most women are engaged in poorly paid domestic labor and micro-enterprises, which do not provide job security or benefits. (references)

Worker Rights

Algeria

The strike was publicized poorly and had little effect. (references)

Togo

They were fed poorly, crudely clothed, and inadequately cared for, and were neither educated nor permitted to learn a trade. (references)

Nicaragua

In response to longstanding complaints by union representatives that the Ministry of Labor poorly enforced the Labor Code in the FTZ's, in 1997 the Ministry opened an office in the Managua FTZ to ensure that the code was being enforced. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "poorly": be poorly ♦ behave poorly ♦ look poorly ♦ poorly off ♦ poorly soundproofed ♦ think poorly ♦ think poorly of. Additional references.

Beginning with "poorly": poorly-armed, poorly-consolidated, poorly-controlled, poorly-damped, poorly-defended, poorly-developed, poorly-differentiated, poorly-documented, poorly-drained, poorly-dressed, poorly-educated, poorly-engineered, poorly-insulated, poorly-maintained, poorly-managed, poorly-motivated, poorly-organized, poorly-paid, poorly-performed, poorly-performing, poorly-prepared, poorly-protected, poorly-qualified, poorly-reviewed, poorly-run, poorly-shod, poorly-struck, poorly-surfaced, poorly-trained, poorly-understood.

Albanian

varfërisht (barely), në varfëri, keq (awry, bad, badly, downhill, foul, miserable, nasty, poor), i paqejf (half hearted, indisposed, loath, loth), dobët (faintly, flabbily, weakly). (various references)

Arabic 

‏متوسط (age, average, central, intermediary, intermediate, mean, medial, median, mediocre, medium, middle, middling, moderate, ordinary, pass), ‏متوعك (indisposed, out of health, seedy, shaky, sickly, sufferer, unwell), ‏بفقر. (various references)

Bulgarian 

неразположен (averse, chippy, indisposed, mean, off color, off colour, out of sorts, queer, seedy, squeamish, under the weather, unwell), незадоволително (unsatisfactorily), недобре, лошо (bad, badly, hardly, ill, mis-), болнав (ailing, cachectic, delicate, invalid, pimping, punk, sickly, unhealthy, unwell, valetudinarian, valetudinary, weakly), бедно (baldly, humbly, meanly). (various references)

Chinese 

穷地. (various references)

Czech

uboze (cheaply, miserably), stonavý (sickly, valetudinarian), indisponovaný (indisposed, unwell), churavý (ailing, ill, indisposed, sick, valetudinary), chatrný (broken, coarse, delicate, frail, jerry built, paltry, shoddy, unsound, weak), špatnì (badly, ill, in a bad way, wrong, wrongly). (various references)

Danish

sand med uensartet kornstørrelse (poorly graded sand), let differentieret cancer (poorly differentiated cancer), lavt uddannet (poorly qualified), i stoebt tilstand indeholder staalet en ringe maengde ledeburit,hvis karbider efter varmbearbejdningen findes i kun lidet udpraegede baand (in the as cast condition, ledeburite, the carbides of which after hot working occur in rather poorly defined bands, the steel contains a small amount of the eutectic), grus af uensartet størrelse (poorly graded gravel). (various references)

Dutch

zand met onvoldoende gradatie (poorly graded sand), slecht gedifferentieerde kanker (poorly differentiated cancer), laag geschoold (poorly qualified), in gegoten toestand bevat het staal een kleine hoeveelheid ledeburiet,waarvan de carbiden na warm vervormen in vaag herkenbare banen zijn georiënteerd (in the as cast condition, ledeburite, the carbides of which after hot working occur in rather poorly defined bands, the steel contains a small amount of the eutectic), grind met onvoldoende gradatie (poorly graded gravel). (various references)

Finnish

huonosti (badly, ill). (various references)

French

pauvrement, souffrant (poor), malade (poor), médiocrement. (various references)

German

arm (arm, beam, beggarly, bracket, branch, indigent, indigently, lacking, miserable, penurious, penuriously, poor, ray of starfish, sparse). (various references)

Greek 

πτωχώσ (shabbilly), φτωχά. (various references)

Hungarian

gyengén (low, weakly). (various references)

Indonesian

bergombal (old and turn, poorly made). (various references)

Italian

poveramente (barely), scarsamente (slightly), miseramente, male (ache, Amiss, bad, badly, disease, evil, harm, hurt, ill, illness, misfortune, not well, pain, sickness, trouble, wrong, wrongly), malaticcio (ailing, sickly, unhealthy), malamente (badly, ill), indisposto (indisposed, off color, queer, unwell, upset), in cattiva salute. (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

御釈迦 (poorly made or ruined articles). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

おしゃか (poorly made or ruined articles). (various references)

Korean 

가난하게. (various references)

Manx

moal (backward, belated, decrepit, deliberate, deplorable, dim, disappointing, dull, enfeebled, feeble, flimsy, gradual, ill, laggard, late, late of fruit, listless, meagre, overdue, pithless, poor, scraggy, slack, slow, sorry, tardy, tawdry, unimpressive, weak, weak as faith, wretched, wretched of thing), dy moal (beggarly, deliberately, faintly, slowly). (various references)

Pig Latin

oorlypay.(various references)

Portuguese

pobremente (meanly), insuficientemente, indisposto (ailing, cross, ill, ill-affected, indisposed, livery, off-color, off-colour, uncomfortable, unwell), desprotegidamente, deficientemente (under), adoentado (cranky, off-color, off-colour, sick, sickly, unhealthy, unwell, washed-out). (various references)

Romanian

prost (ass, bad, badly, beef-witted, blinkard, blockhead, blunt, booby, calf, cheap, clumsy, cock eyed, common, dead, dolt, doltish, donkey, dull, dullard, dumb, dunce, dunderhead, flat, fool, foolish, good for nothing, goof, goon, goose, Goosey, gull, harmful, idiot, idiotish, inhospitable, lousy, lubber-head, miserable, nincompoop, ninny, nitwit, nitwitted, noddy, noodle, numskull, numskulled, oaf, oafish, pin head, poor, silly, simple, simpleton, snipe, soft, soft-headed, sorry, spoony, stupid, thoughtless, unfavorable, unfavourable, wretched, zombie), slab (adynamic, angular, bad, cold, cranky, crazy, dicky, dim, Dotty, dull, faint, faintly, feckless, feeble, feebly, female, flabby, flaccid, flat, fleshless, flimsy, footless, forceless, frail, gaunt, groggy, helpless, impotent, inner, jaded, jejune, languid, languishing, languorous, lax, lean, Lenten, light, loose, low, meager, meagre, mean, mild, milk and water, namby-pamby, nerveless, one horse, pale, peaked, penny-a-line, pimping, poor, powerless, quiet, remotely, rickety, scraggy, scrawny, shaky, sickly, silly, skinny, slack, slight, small, soft, sorry, spare, squeal, stringent, tender, thin, washy, weak, weakly), sãrãcuţ (poor devil), sãrãcãcios (baldly, barely, barren, humble, mean, meanly, miserable, modest, penurious, poky, poor, poverty stricken, scant, shabby, slender, sorry, sparing), indispus (ailing, distempered, hipped, in a pet, indisposed, Moody, out of order, out of temper, queer, seedy, unwell, upset), fãrã succes (pathetic), care nu se simte prea bine. (various references)

Russian 

слабо (faintly, flabbily, meanly, underact, wanly, weakly), нездоровый (ailing, dicky, diseased, doughy, indisposed, insalubrious, noisome, seedy, under the weather, unhealthy, unhygienic, unsound, unwell, unwholesome), малолюдный (thinly populated, unfrequented), плохо (badly, ill-treat, nasty). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

slabo (faintly), oskudno (sparingly, thinly), nikako (means: by no means, never, no way, nohow, not at all, nothing, noway, nowise), loše (amiss, bad, badly, refuse), jadno (miserably), bedno (beggarly, miserably, pitiably), šturo. (various references)

Spanish

pobremente, mal (Amiss, badly, cowardice, damage, disease, evil, hardily, hardly, harm, hurt, ill, illness, in a bad way, infertility, inhumanity, lot, malady, naughtily, trouble, troubled, wrong, wrongdoing, wrongly). (various references)

Swedish

krassligt, klen (cachectic, delicate, faint, feeble, frail, infirm, light, low, scrubby, slight, valetudinarian, valetudinary, weak), illa (amiss, bad, badly, ill, miserable, nasty, poor, severely, very, wrong), fattigt, dåligt (badly, indifferently), dålig (bad, evil, foul, funny, ignoble, ill, indifferent, inferior, miserable, nasty, off, poor, sick, unsound, unwell, weak). (various references)

Turkish

yetersiz (defective, deficient, disqualified, exiguous, half-way, handicapped, inadequate, incapable, incommensurate, incompetent, inconclusive, inefficient, ineligible, insufficient, meager, meagre, powerless, scant, scanty, scrimp, scrimpy, shoestring, short, skimp, skimpy, slender, slim, spare, unequal, unfit, unqualified, unsatisfactory, unsatisfied, unsatisfying), rahatsız (ailing, bad, comfortless, constrained, diseased, disturbed, ill, in bad health, incommodious, indisposed, out of sorts, queer, seedy, sick, troubled, uncomfortable, uneasy, unrestful, unwell, worrisome), olumsuz (deprecating, negative, negatory, unfavorable, unfavourable), keyifsiz (ailing, blue, cheerless, dejected, dispirited, doleful, down, humorless, humourless, in the doldrums, indisposed, mean, off color, off colour, out of humor, out of humour, out of sorts, poor spirited, queer, seedy, sick, under the weather, unwell), kötü (bad, badly, black, chintzy, devilish, dread, dreadfull, evil, feeble, fierce, grotty, harmful, haunted, hedge, hellish, horrible, horrid, ill, indifferent, iniquitous, lousy, malign, mis-, miscreant, miserable, nasty, nefarious, obnoxious, off, offensive, poor, portentous, purple, rough, seamy, shady, sinister, sticky, stinking, ugly, unhallowed, unrighteous, vicious, wicked, worse, wrongful), hasta (ailing, buff, case, client, diseased, fan, fanatical, ill, in bad health, invalid, patient, sick, sufferer, under the weather, unsound, unwell, valetudinarian, valetudinary, weakly), fena (angrily, bad, badly, evil, foul, ill, malicious, miserable, nasty, poor, sinful, sinister, unholy, vicious, wicked). (various references)

Ukrainian

хворий (aching, ailing, case, dicky, diseased, ill, invalid, pasty, sick, sickish, sickly, sore, stricken), недужий, бідно (barely, humbly), погано (badly, commonly, ill, thin, wrong). (various references)

Vietnamese 

thiếu thốn xo� ng, t�"i (deplorable, doggerel, foul, illy, poor, punk, rotten, third-rate, threepenny, trashy, wretched), nghèo n� n (miserable, slim), khó ở (ailing, nohow, seedily, unwell), không khoẻ (nohow, unwell). (various references)

Welsh

sa+l (bad, ill, poor, sick), gwael (bad, base, ill, poor, sick, vile), goachul (lean, puny, sickly), cwla (feeble). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Misspellings

"Poorly" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Moorly, orly, phorcys, Pokorny, Pomroy, ponly, pordy, porel, poury, purply. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: loopy, orlop.

-2 letters: loop, lory, ploy, polo, poly, pool, poor, ropy.

-3 letters: loo, lop, ply, pol, pro, pry.

-4 letters: lo, op, or, oy, yo.

+2 letters: droopily, playroom, polypore, porously, propylon, pyrology, trollopy.

+3 letters: allotropy, copolymer, isopropyl, operosely, petrology, playrooms, polymorph, polypores, prolusory.

+4 letters: biopolymer, compulsory, copolymers, copulatory, copyholder, corporally, cryptology, droopingly, graphology, holography, isopropyls, lampoonery, laparotomy, morphology, nephrology, papyrology, phosphoryl, phrenology, pleiotropy, polychrome, polychromy, polyhedron, polyhistor, polymorphs, praxeology, proctology, profoundly, prototypal, protoxylem, pyrogallol, pyrologies, sporophyll, vaporously.

+5 letters: amorphously, biopolymers, chlorophyll, copolymeric, copyholders, corporality, corporately, corporeally, counterploy, cryptologic, exploratory, fluoroscopy, herpetology, homopolymer, hyperboloid, laparoscopy, opportunely, phosphoryls, phraseology, phytosterol, poltroonery, polyandrous, polychromed, polychromes, polyestrous, polyhedrons, polyhistors, polyhydroxy, polymorphic, polysorbate, ponderously, posteriorly, primatology, proteolyses, proteolysis, proteolytic, protogalaxy, protoxylems, provokingly, pteridology, pyrogallols, sporophylls.