as in sordid
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of seamy
That seamy swagger of Jack Nicholson as über-dirtbag Randle McMurphy in Cuckoo’s Nest could have been shot here yesterday.
—
Matt Thompson, SPIN, 3 Feb. 2025
While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump’s political rise.
—Michael R. Sisak, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2025
The specific charges in the hush money case were about checks and ledgers, but the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump's political rise.
—Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Jake Offenhartz and Michelle L. Price The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 11 Jan. 2025
Just like Blue Velvet, the painting exposes the seamy underbelly of small-town America.
—Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for seamy
Matt Thompson, SPIN, 3 Feb. 2025
While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump’s political rise.
—Michael R. Sisak, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2025
The specific charges in the hush money case were about checks and ledgers, but the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump's political rise.
—Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Jake Offenhartz and Michelle L. Price The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 11 Jan. 2025
Just like Blue Velvet, the painting exposes the seamy underbelly of small-town America.
—Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for seamy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for seamy
Adjective
-
Beyond the juicy and sordid details, there’s the redemption tale of Hoyt Richards, a Princeton grad who became the first male supermodel in the 1980s.—
Stuart Miller,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
-
The sordid tale of the Murdaughs unfolded in the public eye during a boom in true crime media, when actual instances of death and deception could hardly keep up with the demand for packaging and repackaging sinister stories of shocking human behavior.—
Andrea Marks,
Rolling Stone,
25 May 2026
Adjective
-
Chesnut said El Mencho, raised in the deeply Catholic Mexican state of Michoacan, echoes other criminal actors who’ve balanced villainy and veneration, bypassing traditional religious frameworks to absolve ― or even justify ― the deeds that reap their daily bread.—
Marc Ramirez,
USA Today,
7 June 2026
-
With nothing holding her down but a dead-end job and an aging dad, a small-town Texan girl is swiftly bedazzled by a smooth criminal drifter, and hops into his car to pursue a life less ordinary.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
7 June 2026
Adjective
-
Plus placing that onus on editors could put magazines in the unsavory position of policing writers.—
Jasmine Vojdani,
Vulture,
3 June 2026
-
The two Democrats have frequently tussled for moral high ground over their connections to industries that voters might see as unsavory.—
Ben Paviour,
Sacbee.com,
27 May 2026
Adjective
-
The cultural shift that turned horror cinema from a disreputable, rarely respected grind-house film genre into a billion-dollar-a-year mainstream business has done wonders for the genre’s overall quality.—
Tasha Robinson,
Vulture,
29 May 2026
-
After Kent’s resignation, Republican hawks denounced him as a kook and a traitor to the cause, without touching on the delicate question of why Trump appointed such a disreputable figure in the first place.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
25 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Similarly, having a conscience means feeling sadness or moral repulsion at the idea of taking a certain action, and those emotions entail a physiological response, a remnant of having once felt sick with guilt after committing an immoral act.—
Ted Chiang,
The Atlantic,
3 June 2026
-
Ryan Josue Rojas, 20, of Herriman, Utah, was arraigned Sunday on one count of accosting a minor for immoral purposes, Michigan State Police said.—
Joseph Buczek,
CBS News,
1 June 2026
Adjective
-
So much of it comes down to economics, to not being freed from unethical labor practices.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 June 2026
-
Proxy services are often used for illicit or unethical purposes such as performing DDoS attacks, running botnet command-and-control servers, operating phishing operations, and scraping website content.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
Spark, who was born in 1918 and died in 2006, had a talent for writing wicked little books that defy easy categorization; her coming-of-age stories feel like horror stories, her horror stories feel like love stories, and her love stories feel like acid satire.—
Rachel Syme,
New Yorker,
10 June 2026
-
But after Sophie’s father dies, she’s forced to become a maid herself by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters.—
Jennifer Maas,
Variety,
10 June 2026
Adjective
-
The casting couch was, and is, part of Hollywood's shameful legacy.—
Stephanie Nolasco,
FOXNews.com,
6 June 2026
-
Nevertheless, England brought him down repeatedly, often with considerable force, in a manner that is truly shameful when viewed today.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Seamy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/seamy. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
