crass

crass

adjective \ˈkras\

Definition of CRASS

1

a : gross 6a; especially : having or indicating such grossness of mind as precludes delicacy and discrimination

b : being beneath one's dignity <crass concerns of daily life>

c —used as a pejorative intensifier <crass flattery> <crass propaganda>

2

: guided by or indicative of base or materialistic values <crass commercialism> <crass measures of success>

— crass·ly adverb

— crass·ness noun

Examples of CRASS

1. A few people seemed shocked by her crass comments.
2. <a loudmouthed jerk given to rude jokes and crass comments>
3. Minor criticism though it was compared to the rest, the most galling calumny of all as far as Gaius Marius was concerned was the perpetual inference that he was unacceptably crass because he had no Greek. —Colleen McCullough, The First Man in Rome, (1990) 1991
4. He had removed her from that crass monied Middle Atlantic society where she had seemed stilted and fragile. —John Updike, Couples, 1968
5. We are urgently in need of progress, but not if it means the kind of crass complacency that ignores the fact that history for most men and women to date has meant misery and fruitless toil … —Terry Eagleton, Harper's, March 2005

Origin of CRASS

Latin crassus thick, gross

First Known Use: circa 1625

Related to CRASS

Synonyms

common, coarse, crude, gross, ill-bred, illiberal [archaic], incult, insensible, low, lowbred, lowbrow, raffish, rough, rough-hewn, roughneck, rude, rugged, tasteless, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, unpolished, unrefined, vulgar

Antonyms

civilized, cultivated, cultured, genteel, polished, refined, smooth, tasteful, ultrarefined, well-bred

Related Words

boorish, churlish, cloddish, clownish, loutish, ungentlemanly; clumsy, lubberly, lumpish, oafish; inconsiderate, indelicate, insensitive, thoughtless; countrified (also countryfied), provincial, rustic (also rustical), unsophisticated; graceless, inelegant, tacky; animallike, barbaric, barbarous, uncivilized; mannerless, unmannered, unmannerly

Near Antonyms

aristocratic, courtly, patrician; elegant, graceful, restrained; considerate, gracious, sensitive, thoughtful; citified, sophisticated, urbane

See Synonym Discussion at stupid

Rhymes with CRASS

ass, bass, brass, class, frass, gas, glass, grass, lass, mass, pass, sass, strass, tasse, vas, wrasse