dingy

adjective

din·​gy ˈdin-jē How to pronounce dingy (audio)
dingier; dingiest
1
: dirty, unclean
dingy fingernails
2
: shabby, squalid
a dingy hotel room
dingily adverb
dinginess noun

Examples of dingy in a Sentence

He's been staying in a dingy motel. the bed sheets were pretty dingy so we threw them in the laundry pile
Recent Examples on the Web Now, with his new movie, Drive-Away Dolls, Ethan has made a gonzo comedy about dopes with guns chasing cheerful fools around dingy American motels in pursuit of a meaningless bag of loot. David Sims, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2024 Golding remembers sometimes spending 40 hours at a time in his dingy 8x10-foot cell with holes in the concrete walls and no access to a shower. Andrea Castillo, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2024 Until recently, this vibrant kitchen in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, was dingy, dull and stripped of original details—the victim of a hit-and-run renovation that removed every bit of character from the circa-1900 row house, says architect-designer Sarah Jacoby. Elizabeth Sweet, WSJ, 22 Nov. 2023 Stallone ended up in a dingy apartment in the Valley by… Balboa Boulevard. Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2023 During a year when world-conquering, box office-shattering tours by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé dominated the concert biz headlines, there were innumerable other live music highlights in 2023, from dingy DIY shows to epic stadium gigs to surprise reunions to milestone birthday celebrations. Spin Staff, SPIN, 21 Dec. 2023 Laced with winking cinephile references to the director’s auteur heroes, this deceptively modest film is both dour and droll, every frame finding beauty in a dingy milieu that seems frozen in time. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Dec. 2023 Imitating Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Gardner wore a dingy bathrobe, topped with a floppy trapper hat. Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Dec. 2023 When the heroine goes to work as a dishwasher at a dingy Helsinki bar, there’s a shot of an oversize calendar. Esther Zuckerman, New York Times, 26 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dingy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1691, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of dingy was in 1691

Dictionary Entries Near dingy

Cite this Entry

“Dingy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dingy. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

dingy

adjective
din·​gy ˈdin-jē How to pronounce dingy (audio)
dingier; dingiest
: rather dark and dirty : not fresh or clean
a dingy room
dingy colors
dingily adverb
dinginess noun

More from Merriam-Webster on dingy

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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