as in sloppy
lacking neatness in dress or person
for the sake of their image, the band members transformed themselves from clean-cut lads to slovenly rockers
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in sloppily
in a careless or unfashionable manner
an employee who went overboard on dress-down day and was reprimanded for dressing slovenly on the job
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of slovenly
Frank Fellone, Arkansas Online, 2 May 2025
Slough House is headed by the slovenly, flatulent, and frequently intoxicated Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), who routinely heaps verbal abuse on his staff but is nonetheless a brilliant spymaster in his own smelly way.
—Ars Technica, 24 Dec. 2024
Olivia Young, Travel + Leisure, 17 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for slovenly
Adjective
Disappointed Steve Dear Steve: The real disappointment comes from slovenly people who throw trash onto our highways, or fail to properly secure their cargo.
—Frank Fellone, Arkansas Online, 2 May 2025
Slough House is headed by the slovenly, flatulent, and frequently intoxicated Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), who routinely heaps verbal abuse on his staff but is nonetheless a brilliant spymaster in his own smelly way.
—Ars Technica, 24 Dec. 2024
Adverb
It’s cropped with puffy sleeves that land at or above the wrist instead of hanging slovenly over your hands.
—Olivia Young, Travel + Leisure, 17 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for slovenly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slovenly
Adjective
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As the most populous and sprawling county in the state, Fulton has often been tagged by Republicans as the bad egg among elections offices for its past record of long lines, late returns and sloppy bookkeeping.—
Patricia Murphy,
AJC.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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Officials say the scammers' schemes range from the savvy to the sloppy -- and all are brazen.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
28 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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This time, Attorney General Pam Bondi has gone along with efforts to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James—but the department handled the cases so sloppily that a district court has already thrown them out.—
Quinta Jurecic,
The Atlantic,
20 Jan. 2026
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The Knicks were down one at that point, sloppily holding their own in a game Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart each missed due to right ankle ailments.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
18 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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The tensions within the coalition might explode, or its agenda might be so radically conceived or so chaotically executed that the public rejects it.—
Walter Russell Mead,
The Atlantic,
24 Jan. 2026
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There was a blanket folded on the couch, and papers and books chaotically piled on a coffee table and a desk.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
New Yorker,
15 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Meanwhile, Sean Suen focused on shaggy tresses.—
Jennifer Weil,
Footwear News,
27 Jan. 2026
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Spot shaggy giants grazing in the heart of the city.—
Lewis Nunn,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Tidy outdoor areas where insects and pests tend to hide, such as wood piles, leaf piles, overgrowth, or unkempt landscaping.—
Jamie Cuccinelli,
Martha Stewart,
30 Jan. 2026
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Helen gets defensive when those around her express concern about her behavior and her unkempt conditions.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Trusting our usual virtual background on Teams to mask an untidy living room or kitchen table from colleagues.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
24 Jan. 2026
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Inspired by the cognitive dissonance that Joan Didion experienced in Miami, Nick León creates a refreshingly untidy tapestry of the city’s dance music on A Tropical Entropy.—
Pitchfork,
Pitchfork,
2 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Extension 24-Pair Shoe Storage Cabinet A pile of footwear cluttering an entryway is an eyesore and makes homes look messy.—
Ali Faccenda,
PEOPLE,
29 Jan. 2026
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Epstein raised this alarm years ago in Range, writing that the best predictors of future elite performance often hide inside messy developmental stories.—
Rachel Barr,
Big Think,
29 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Slovenly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slovenly. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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