poorly

"Poorly" usually means that something is done in a bad way, is of low quality, or that someone feels unwell. You might do poorly on a test, meaning you did not do well. Someone might also be feeling poorly, meaning they are sick or not in good health. In many cases, it works as the opposite of "well." A poorly made chair may fall apart quickly, and a poorly planned vacation may go badly. It is a useful word for actions, results, and conditions that are not as good as they should be.

The word "poorly" is quite flexible in English. Many learners notice it first in the health meaning, as in "She was feeling poorly after the long flight," where it means unwell or sick. More often, though, it works as an adverb that tells us how something is done. If you sing a song poorly, your singing is not good. If a student performs poorly in class, the student's results are weak. This use points to a lack of skill, success, care, or quality.

It is also common before past participles and similar adjectives that describe how something was made or done. A poorly constructed building might be unsafe, and a poorly written story might be hard to follow. In these cases, the word shows that something was done badly or without enough care.

It often appears in everyday situations too, especially when people talk about speaking, planning, or handling something. If you say, "I worded that poorly," you mean that your words were not chosen well. Context matters: sometimes the word describes an action, sometimes it helps describe the quality of a thing, and sometimes it means a person feels ill. Across these uses, the idea stays fairly steady: something is not done well, not made well, or not physically well. So when you hear "poorly," think about whether it points to weak performance, low quality, or bad health.