Phrase guide

under the weather

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈʌndə ðə ˈwɛðə/
  • General-American: /ˈʌndɚ ðə ˈwɛðɚ/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

ill or gloomy, especially from a cold or flu.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Somewhat intoxicated or suffering from a hangover.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Experiencing adversity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

somewhat ill or prone to illness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • my poor ailing grandmother
  • feeling a bit indisposed today
  • you look a little peaked
  • feeling poorly
  • a sickly child
  • is unwell and can't come to work

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ailing, indisposed, peaked(p), poorly(p), sickly, unwell, seedy

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From under the weather bow (“affected by bad weather; seasick”); weather bow is a nautical term referring to the side of a ship exposed to bad weather.

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: no estar fi — somewhat ill
  • Catalan: no estar fina — somewhat ill
  • Catalan: pioc — somewhat ill
  • Finnish: huonovointinen — somewhat ill
  • French: ne pas être dans son assiette — somewhat ill
  • French: patraque — somewhat ill
  • Galician: indisposto — somewhat ill
  • German: angeschlagen — somewhat ill
  • German: niedergeschlagen — somewhat ill
  • German: bedrückt — somewhat ill
  • German: angegriffen — somewhat ill
  • Icelandic: veikur — somewhat ill
  • Icelandic: slappur — somewhat ill
  • Irish: meath-thinn — somewhat ill
  • Italian: indisposto — somewhat ill
  • Italian: fuori fase — somewhat ill
  • Italian: sofferente — somewhat ill
  • Māori: ngātoro — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: hanglete — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: halvsjuk — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: halvsyk — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: klein — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: skranten — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: skrantete — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: tufs — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: tufsen — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: tufsete — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: uggen — somewhat ill
  • Norwegian: urven — somewhat ill
  • Polish: chory — somewhat ill
  • Portuguese: indisposto — somewhat ill
  • Russian: не по себе́ (ne po sebé) — somewhat ill
  • Russian: нездоро́вый (nezdoróvyj) — somewhat ill
  • Russian: приболе́вший (pribolévšij) — somewhat ill
  • Sicilian: malatazzu — somewhat ill
  • Slovak: necítiť sa vo svojej koži — somewhat ill
  • Spanish: indispuesto — somewhat ill
  • Spanish: pachucho — somewhat ill
  • Spanish: malucho — somewhat ill
  • Spanish: maluco — somewhat ill
  • Spanish: malmarriento — somewhat ill
  • Swedish: krasslig — somewhat ill
  • Swedish: risig — somewhat ill
  • Swedish: vissen — somewhat ill
  • Swedish: småsjuk — somewhat ill
  • Unami: mahchamàlsi — somewhat ill
  • Vietnamese: ốm — somewhat ill