From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpoorlypoor‧ly1 /ˈpɔːli $ ˈpʊrli/ ●●○ adverb BADbadly Jana’s doing poorly in school. poorly educated workers The article was poorly written.
Examples from the Corpus
poorly• Environmentalists, claiming that the plant is poorly constructed, have for years objected to its opening.• So if yours is looking poorly, hack it out and replace it.• a poorly lit room• Until now all that women were taught to do, from housework to carpet weaving, was devalued and poorly paid.• Compared with her predecessors Elizabeth was poorly placed to raise loans, especially during her later years.• It gets on poorly with other genres.• Port lawyers at the time drew up poorly worded contracts that do not properly protect district interests.• The article is really poorly written.poorlypoorly2 ●●○ adjective British English informal ILLill Matt’s wife’s been very poorly.► see thesaurus at illExamples from the Corpus
poorly• Dad was always out, Mum was often poorly, and I had to look after the rest of the kids.• Marie's still rocking - hugging herself like some of the poorly kids at school used to.• "I'm afraid your grandmother's very poorly, " the nurse on duty said. 