down and dirty

adjective or adverb

1

: unvarnished

the down and dirty truth

2

: made or done hastily : not revised or polished

a down and dirty solution

3

: marked by or given to fierce often unscrupulous competition

down and dirty campaigning

4

: bawdy

down and dirty sexuality

5

: seedy

a down and dirty neighborhood

6

: relating to or involved with what is crudely basic and practical

down and dirty details

Synonyms of down and dirty

• impromptu
• improvisational
• improvised
• ad hoc

Examples of down and dirty in a Sentence

hoisting aloft the down and dirty sign that we had just made, we joined the protest

Recent Examples on the Web

As the All-Terrain badge entails, as does its conservative use of fender cladding, this E450 can get mildly down and dirty. — Peter Nelson, Forbes.com, 1 Feb. 2026

The Wilson, North Carolina native can get as down and dirty as your regular country boy and can also fit in among the greats. — Mya Abraham, VIBE.com, 6 Aug. 2025

When cameras did finally get rolling, principal photography was down and dirty, cinéma vérité-style, only lasting about a month. — Josh Weiss, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025

With Season 1 now completed on HBO Max, Parham spoke to Variety about getting down and dirty as a liberated woman of the ‘70s. — Selome Hailu, Variety, 14 Apr. 2022

Well, the experience was wonderful except for getting kicked in the face by that low-down and dirty Sami Zayn. — Dallas News, 30 Mar. 2022

Few songs have distilled the essence of the down and dirty Sunset Strip life more effectively. — Jon O'Brien, Billboard, 28 Feb. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Rhymes for down and dirty

• cherty
• flirty
• intertie