ILL AT EASE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ill at ease mean? 

• ILL AT EASE (adjective)
  The adjective ILL AT EASE has 1 sense:

1. socially uncomfortable; unsure and constrained in manner

  Familiarity information: ILL AT EASE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ILL AT EASE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Socially uncomfortable; unsure and constrained in manner

Synonyms:

awkward; ill at ease; uneasy

Context example:

was always uneasy with strangers

Similar:

uncomfortable (conducive to or feeling mental discomfort)

 Context examples 

"What shall you tell her?" asked Meg, full of curiosity to know his opinion of her, yet feeling ill at ease with him for the first time.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Between them stood a lean, white-faced brother who appeared to be ill at ease, shifting his feet from side to side and tapping his chin nervously with the long parchment roll which he held in his hand.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was by nature so exceedingly compassionate of anyone who seemed to be ill at ease, and was so quick to find any such person out, that he shook hands with Mr. Micawber, at least half-a-dozen times in five minutes.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But both felt ill at ease.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I was sufficiently ill at ease, Heaven knows; but it was not in my nature to complain much at that time of my life, so I said I was very well, and hoped he was.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She had her doubts about it from the beginning, for her lively fancy and girlish romance felt as ill at ease in the new style as she would have done masquerading in the stiff and cumbrous costume of the last century.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)