exceptional vs ill

exceptional

adj
  • Forming an exception; not ordinary; uncommon; rare. 

  • Corresponding to something of lower dimension under a birational correspondence. 

  • Better than the average; superior due to exception or rarity. 

noun
  • An exception, or something having an exceptional value 

ill

adj
  • Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard. 

  • Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick. 

  • Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way. 

  • Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel. 

  • Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be. 

  • Having an urge to vomit. 

noun
  • A physical ailment; an illness. 

  • Harm or injury. 

  • PCP, phencyclidine. 

  • Evil; moral wrongfulness. 

  • Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity. 

adv
  • Not well; imperfectly, badly 

verb
  • To behave aggressively. 

How often have the words exceptional and ill occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )