dirt

dirt

noun \ˈdərt\

: loose earth or soil

: a substance (such as mud or dust) that makes things unclean

: a person or thing that has no value

Full Definition of DIRT

1

a :  excrement

b :  a filthy or soiling substance (as mud, dust, or grime)

c archaic :  something worthless

d :  a contemptible person <treated me like dirt>

2

:  loose or packed soil or sand :  earth <a mound of dirt> <a dirt road>

3

a :  an abject or filthy state :  squalor <living in dirt>

b :  corruption, chicanery <vowed to clean up the dirt in the city government>

c :  licentiousness of language or theme

d :  scandalous or malicious gossip <spreading dirt about his ex-wife>

e :  embarrassing or incriminating information <trying to dig up dirt on her political rivals>

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Examples of DIRT

1. Pack dirt loosely around the base of the plant.
2. You've got some dirt on your face.
3. Their shoes were covered with dirt.
4. No amount of cleaning will get rid of all this dirt.

Origin of DIRT

Middle English drit, from Old Norse; akin to Old English drītan to defecate

First Known Use: 13th century

Related to DIRT

Synonyms

clod, earth, ground, mold, soil

Related Words

blackland, clay, gault [chiefly British], gley, guck (or gook), gumbo, kaolin, muck, mud; dust, gravel, sand; humus, loam, topsoil; alluvium, colluvium, detritus, loess, marl, sediment, shingle, silt; duff, mull; subsoil, substratum

Near Antonyms

cleanliness, cleanness

Rhymes with DIRT

blurt, chert, curt, flirt, girt, hurt, pert, quirt, shirt, skirt, spurt, squirt, sturt, vert, wort