How to Use ill at ease in a Sentence

ill at ease

adjective
  • He seemed ill at ease when we spoke with him.
  • I'm usually ill at ease when addressing a large crowd of people.
  • For one thing, all four kids–three of them adults now–feel ill at ease in the world.
    — Daniel D'addario, Time, 8 Feb. 2018
  • The locker room is one of those places where many people feel ill at ease.
    — Christen A. Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 21 May 2018
  • Why is this beautiful woman so ill at ease on her way to church?
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Since then, the reporters have been ill at ease, too, and worried about their phones being tapped.
    — New York Times, 13 May 2022
  • Husband and wife then head to the former’s book launch, where Lidia again feels ill at ease.
    — Hazlitt, 19 Dec. 2024
  • Stephenson and Howlin looked equally ill at ease.
    — Robin Muir, Vogue, 12 June 2026
  • Something that shocks or fuels dissension can put you and others ill at ease.
    — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive.com, 5 June 2019
  • Beck was ill at ease, her English choppy once the camera began rolling.
    — Mayukh Sen, The Atlantic, 16 Nov. 2021
  • Deep fault lines emerged in a society ill at ease with itself and aggrieved with the West.
    — Laura Secor, Foreign Affairs, 6 Dec. 2013
  • Homesick and ill at ease outside Russia, many were easy targets.
    — Gregory Feifer, Foreign Affairs, 23 Mar. 2015
  • Yet Iñárritu’s grand designs, even at their most morally fervent, leave you ill at ease.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2022
  • Of course, no guest wants to dine at the home of a host whose off-putting etiquette makes everyone feel ill at ease either.
    — Alesandra Dubin, Southern Living, 21 Oct. 2025
  • The squad were simultaneously in awe, and ill at ease.
    — Nick Miller, New York Times, 17 June 2026
  • Memoir often proves the salvation of people who feel ill at ease in their bodies.
    — Katy Waldman, Slate Magazine, 26 June 2017
  • Everyone’s talking about it, or feeling ill at ease for knowing nothing about it.
    — Bill Conerly, Forbes, 5 May 2023
  • For most of his time as a Tour star, Watson has seemed ill at ease, in public, over the ball and in his own skin.
    — Eamon Lynch, USA TODAY, 5 Oct. 2021
  • There’s the one in Lincoln Heights, who does not want to be caged in her apartment and yet feels ill at ease outside of it.
    — Brittny Mejia, www.latimes.com, 6 Apr. 2018
  • In the wake of a pandemic and racial and political strife, the broader culture also seems ill at ease.
    — Danny Heitman, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Sep. 2021
  • Most were quite personable, but some appeared distinctly ill at ease in company.
    — New York Times, 13 Apr. 2018
  • But then there’s Izzy – uncomplacent, ill at ease, thinking deeply about plenty of things other than herself.
    — The Washington Post, The Mercury News, 21 June 2019
  • But then there’s Izzy — uncomplacent, ill at ease, thinking deeply about plenty of things other than herself.
    — Washington Post, 17 June 2019
  • The lawsuits portray Yao as presiding over a museum rife with comments and actions that made women ill at ease.
    — Thomas Floyd, Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2023
  • Still, Griffith often felt ill at ease with her position within the music industry.
    — Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
  • Quinones is ill at ease doing the romantic scenes and reading the hokey dialogue, but the street kids around him play themselves naturally.
    — Patrick Friel, Chicago Reader, 10 July 2018
  • Certainly Tony Yazbeck’s Grant seems ill at ease, even apologetic, throughout.
    — Helen Shaw, Vulture, 13 Dec. 2021
  • Criss seems ill at ease in the role of the simple-minded junior partner in the scheme, to the degree that the character feels increasingly out of place.
    — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 14 Apr. 2022
  • Both were a byword, too, for male beauty, fully alive to the almost laughable impact of their handsomeness, yet ill at ease, now and then, with their perches on the pedestal.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2025
  • Kennedy gave a rather general and broad-based answer, and perhaps more problematically appeared ill at ease with the question.
    — Niall Stanage, The Hill, 29 Jan. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ill at ease.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: