poorly

«poorly» in Mova's school dictionary: badly, not well: «The team played poorly.» — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adverb (poorly); adjective (poorly — mainly UK, «feeling poorly»)

meaning for a pupil

1) Poorly means badly, not well: «The team played poorly.» tree →

2) In British and Irish English, «poorly» also means ill or unwell: «Grandad is poorly today.» tree →

3) «Poorly paid» means getting too little money. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school reports «poorly» describes weak work («answered poorly»). In everyday UK life children say they feel poorly when they are sick. Phrases: «feel poorly», «poorly paid», «poorly lit», «did poorly on the test».

examples

• The street was poorly lit, so we used a torch. tree →
• He did poorly on the spelling test because he didn't practise. tree →
• I'm feeling poorly, Mum, can I stay home? tree →
• The plants grew poorly in the dark cupboard. tree →
• Our team played poorly in the first half but won in the end. tree →
• The house was poorly built and the roof leaked. tree →

note

The adverb comes from «poor» + -ly. In the UK «poorly» as «ill» is friendly, informal and common with children; in the USA it is rare and people say «sick». «Poorly» does not mean «having little money» (that is «poor»).

In the corpora

• Albino animals often see poorly, burn easily in sun and are easier for predators to spot.
• Kids who look after a poorly or struggling parent are called young carers, and there are groups and help for them.
• It's a special hospital ward where doctors and nurses look after very poorly or very early babies all day and all night.
• Intensive care is a special hospital ward where very poorly or very early babies are watched day and night.
• She helps with the hoovering, and tells her teacher when Nana seems poorly.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «poorly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.