sordid

sor·did

adjective \ˈsȯr-dəd\

Definition of SORDID

1

: marked by baseness or grossness : vile <sordid motives>

2

a : dirty, filthy

b : wretched, squalid

3

: meanly avaricious : covetous

4

: of a dull or muddy color

— sor·did·ly adverb

— sor·did·ness noun

Examples of SORDID

1. He shared the sordid details of his past.
2. <he managed to rise above the sordid streets upon which he grew up>
3. And Vermes's story is also in part an international thriller, especially with the high-level goings-on around the Scrolls. The full sordid tale of spite, scholarly selfishness, and undisguised anti-Semitism, which kept access to the Dead Sea texts restricted for decades to a tiny cartel, unwinds in his pages. —Paula Fredriksen, New Republic, 15 Oct. 2001
4. Another reporter working to verify the book's charges ended up unmasking author James Hatfield's sordid past, revealing how little the publisher knew about its author… —Jennifer Greenstein, Brill's Content, February 2000
5. In fact, audiences now have become so blasé about accounts of celebrities' sordid personal lives that some stars are turning potential publicity nightmares into confessional coups. —Stephen Rebello, Vibe, May 1999

Origin of SORDID

Latin sordidus, from sordes dirt — more at swart

First Known Use: 1606

Related to SORDID

Synonyms

bedraggled, befouled, begrimed, bemired, besmirched, black, blackened, cruddy, dingy, draggled, dusty, filthy, foul, grimy, grotty [chiefly British], grubby, grungy, mucky, muddy, nasty, smudged, smutty, soiled, dirty, stained, sullied, unclean, uncleanly

Antonyms

clean, cleanly, immaculate, spick-and-span (or spic-and-span), spotless, stainless, ultraclean, unsoiled, unstained, unsullied

Related Words

contaminated, defiled, germy, impure, polluted, tainted; insanitary, uncleaned, unsanitary, unsterile, unsterilized, unwashed; greasy, gunky; chaotic, cluttered, confused, disarranged, disarrayed, disheveled (or dishevelled), disordered, jumbled, littered, messed, messy, muddled, mussed, mussy, rumpled, scruffy, sloppy, slovenly, unkempt, untidy; raunchy, scuzzy [slang], shabby, skanky [slang], sleazy, squalid; collied [chiefly British dialect], crocked [dialect], fuliginous, sooty

Near Antonyms

clear, limpid, pure; cleaned, cleansed, combed, groomed, neat, ordered, orderly, tidy; bleached, purified, whitened; bright, flawless, perfect, shiny, sparkling, unspotted, untouched; taintless, unblemished, undefiled, unpolluted, untainted, virgin, wholesome

See Synonym Discussion at mean

Rhymes with SORDID

corded, swarded, warded