grubby

adjective

grub·​by ˈgrə-bē 

grubbier; grubbiest

1

: infested with fly maggots

2

a

: dirty, grimy

grubby hands

b

: slovenly, sloppy

3

: worthy of contempt : base

grubby political motives

grubbily

ˈgrə-bə-lē 

adverb

grubbiness

ˈgrə-bē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

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

Examples of grubby in a Sentence

He lives in a grubby little apartment.

clean off those grubby hands before you touch anything

Recent Examples on the Web

The actors aren’t grubby or sweaty, and their clothes are neatly pressed. —Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 12 Feb. 2024

Although the murderous alien is the films’ ostensible villain, Weyland-Yutani—an omnipresent monolith that’s sort of like if Tesla bought Netflix and was also the hospital—looms large over Alien’s grubby dystopia. —Fran Hoepfner, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2024

The man looks nothing like the usual upscale Buckhead business crowd; this guy is rough and grubby, with no hint of a smile. —Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 3 Aug. 2024

Any science that deserves its name is said to be vulnerable to tests that can falsify it, while philosophy aims for pristine truths that hover somewhere beyond the grubby reach of experiment. —Quanta Magazine, 30 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1725, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

grubby

adjective

grub·​by ˈgrəb-ē 

grubbier; grubbiest

: dirty entry 1 sense 1, slovenly

grubbily

ˈgrəb-ə-lē 

adverb

grubbiness

ˈgrəb-ē-nəs 

noun