indisposed

The adjective indisposed is a slightly formal way to describe someone who's feeling sick. You might call your boss to tell her that you can't make it to work because you're indisposed.

  • Pronunciation: / ,ɪndɪ'spozd/
  • English description: somewhat ill or prone to illness
  • Synonyms: ailing
  • Chinese Translation: 不舒服的(bu4 shu1 fu2 de)
  • Spanish Translation: indispuesto
  • ORIGIN: When you're a bit under the weather, you're indisposed, particularly if you're ill enough to stay in bed and miss work or school. Another meaning of indisposed is unwilling — you're able to do something but refuse to do it. You might say, "I'm indisposed to visit my cousin because she's always so mean to me." Around 1400, it meant "not prepared," and by the mid-fifteenth century, "deceased" or "dead." The Late Latin root word is indispositus, "without order or confused."

EXAMPLE SENTENCE:

  • Two of the three solo singers were late replacements for indisposed colleagues.
  • Within a year she was dismissing servants, ordering about his household knights, even speaking for his lordship when he was indisposed.

*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary