ill-timed

IPA/ˌɪl ˈtaɪmd/
IPA/ˌɪl ˈtaɪmd/

ill-timed — adjective

1. happening or carried out at a moment that turns out to be awkward, inconvenient,

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

happening or carried out at a moment that turns out to be awkward, inconvenient, or harmful — usually because something else important is going on, or because the listener was not ready to hear it.

Example

Tariq's joke about funerals was ill-timed; his grandmother had died the week before.

attributive + reason clause showing why the timing was wrong

The minister's ill-timed visit to the flooded village angered families still searching for missing relatives.

attributive use modifying a noun event

Common collocations
  • ill-timed joke
  • ill-timed remark
  • ill-timed intervention
  • ill-timed announcement
  • ill-timed visit
Synonyms
  • untimely

    more formal; often suggests something happened too early, especially death

  • inopportune

    formal; stresses the awkwardness of the moment for the speaker or hearer

  • mistimed

    stresses a misjudgement of the moment, often in sport or performance

Antonyms
  • well-timed

    direct opposite — happening at exactly the right moment

  • opportune

    formal; describes a moment that is favourable for action

Grammar Patterns

ill-timed + noun

be + ill-timed

Usage Note

Frequently used attributively before a noun describing an action, remark, event, or decision (joke, comment, visit, intervention, decision, announcement, attack). The reason it was badly timed is usually given in a following clause or sentence — the adjective alone implies but does not specify the conflict.

Common Mistakes

The rain was ill-timed for our picnic.
The rain came at a bad time for our picnic.
ill-timed is used of human actions, decisions, or remarks, not of weather or other natural events nobody chose.
He arrived ill-timedly.
His arrival was ill-timed.
ill-timed has no standard adverb form; rephrase using the adjective.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four describe something happening at a wrong moment, but the angle differs. 'Ill-timed' is the everyday choice when an action, remark, or decision lands at a moment that turns out badly for the people involved — often because of something happening around them. 'Untimely' is more formal and is most strongly associated with death or an end coming too early ('an untimely death'); it can also describe news or weather, but with a literary tone. 'Inopportune' is the most formal of the set and stresses how awkward the moment is for the listener or for the speaker's own plans ('an inopportune knock at the door'). 'Mistimed' focuses on a misjudgement of when to act, and is the usual word for sport or performance — a mistimed jump, a mistimed punchline. Compare: 'The minister's ill-timed visit angered families' (poor reading of the moment), 'her untimely death shocked the village' (too early), 'an inopportune phone call interrupted the negotiation' (awkward for the hearer), and 'his mistimed tackle gave away a penalty' (misjudged the moment to act).

ill-timed ↗untimely ↗inopportune ↗mistimed

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • badly ill-timed
  • particularly ill-timed

Prepositions

  • ill-timed for

Etymology

Old NorseOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEarly Modern English

A compound of the adverb 'ill' (meaning 'badly' or 'wrongly', from Old Norse 'illr') and the past participle of the verb 'time' (to choose the moment of something, from Old English 'tima' meaning 'a point in time'). The compound entered English in the early 1600s, originally used of actions that fell at the wrong moment for their purpose.