as in impromptu
made or done without previous thought or preparation
hoisting aloft the down and dirty sign that we had just made, we joined the protest
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Recent Examples of down and dirty
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
Mya Abraham, VIBE.com, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for down and dirty
Adjective
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All students must complete an impromptu essay, which involves reading a short text and responding to a question about it within a two-hour time limit.—
Rory Linnane,
jsonline.com,
3 Oct. 2025
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In public, Mark Kerr speaks amiably about his trainer turned rival and even takes him along for a rowdy impromptu meet-and-greet, but the lack of friction comes off less as a sign of his unflappability than of Safdie’s indifference to probing a friendship beyond buddy-comedy depth.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The film, shot in the sort of seemingly improvisational, realistic style championed by John Cassavetes, may be too raw for mainstream consumption, but deservingly snagged the festival’s award for Best First Feature.—
Frank Scheck,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Oct. 2025
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By comparison, campaign two felt more scattered and improvisational (befitting a D&D game).—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Two months later, the group launched more than two dozen attacks across northeastern Syria, relying on a combination of guerrilla tactics, including small arms fire, ambushes, assassinations, and improvised explosive devices targeting military checkpoints and government vehicles.—
Caroline Rose,
Foreign Affairs,
18 Sep. 2025
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The researchers believe this error was not from its knowledge base but was an improvised guess based on their prior conversation about the square’s diagonal.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
17 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The Sardines, an ad hoc band led by music director Kurt Cowling on keyboards and featuring singer Leah Gawel, play music originally performed and mostly composed by '90s lounge revivalists Combustible Edison.—
Jim Higgins,
Journal Sentinel,
18 Mar. 2023
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Ukraine has also called for the creation of a special United Nations tribunal, akin to ad hoc bodies set up to address war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere.—
Laura King,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Mar. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Down and dirty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/down%20and%20dirty. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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