ill afford
idiom
: to be unable to afford : to be unable to do (something) without having problems or being seriously harmed
She bought a new car, which she could ill afford.
We can ill afford more bad publicity.
Examples of ill afford in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Boeing has reportedly had to eat $1.5 billion in Starliner cost overruns and can ill afford a failure, especially after two crashes of its 737 Max 8 jets and the blowout of a door plug during a 737 Max 9 flight this year to Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino County.
—
Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2024
Opponents called the legislation unconstitutional and would lead to racial profiling, separating children from parents and incur several millions of dollars in additional policing costs that the state can ill afford.
—CBS News, 4 June 2024
Given how close the 2024 election figures to be, Democrats can ill afford their convention to be rife with anarchy and chaos, but absent a coherent solution to healing intra-party divisions, 2024 is increasingly coming to resemble the turbulent summer of 1968.
—Douglas Schoen, Orange County Register, 3 May 2024
This would be a disaster for Europe and would at the very least require expensive bank recapitalizations, which already bloated state budgets can ill afford.
—Mark Blyth, Foreign Affairs, 25 July 2011
With its ambitious climate goals, California can ill afford to discourage people from helping reduce the impacts of a warming planet.
—Julie Lynem, The Mercury News, 12 Apr. 2024
Israel, already clashing with Hezbollah militants at its northern border and facing widespread reproach for killing 25,000 Palestinians in its response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, can ill afford to alienate Egypt.
—John Bacon, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024
Meanwhile, China’s economy can ill afford any additional negative pressure, even at the margin.
—Milton Ezrati, Forbes, 15 Feb. 2024
Those are readers the paper can ill afford to alienate.
—Jason McGahan, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Jan. 2024
Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2024
Opponents called the legislation unconstitutional and would lead to racial profiling, separating children from parents and incur several millions of dollars in additional policing costs that the state can ill afford.
—CBS News, 4 June 2024
Given how close the 2024 election figures to be, Democrats can ill afford their convention to be rife with anarchy and chaos, but absent a coherent solution to healing intra-party divisions, 2024 is increasingly coming to resemble the turbulent summer of 1968.
—Douglas Schoen, Orange County Register, 3 May 2024
This would be a disaster for Europe and would at the very least require expensive bank recapitalizations, which already bloated state budgets can ill afford.
—Mark Blyth, Foreign Affairs, 25 July 2011
With its ambitious climate goals, California can ill afford to discourage people from helping reduce the impacts of a warming planet.
—Julie Lynem, The Mercury News, 12 Apr. 2024
Israel, already clashing with Hezbollah militants at its northern border and facing widespread reproach for killing 25,000 Palestinians in its response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, can ill afford to alienate Egypt.
—John Bacon, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024
Meanwhile, China’s economy can ill afford any additional negative pressure, even at the margin.
—Milton Ezrati, Forbes, 15 Feb. 2024
Those are readers the paper can ill afford to alienate.
—Jason McGahan, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ill afford.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near ill afford
Cite this Entry
“Ill afford.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ill%20afford. Accessed 8 Jun. 2024.
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