as in staining
very bad and dirty conditions
The family was living in squalor. I was shocked by the squalor of their surroundings.
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Recent Examples of squalor
Many came from grinding poverty and squalor.
—
Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
There, they were crammed in squalor before being shot to death and buried in mass graves in the Liaudiskiai forest with the help of local Nazi collaborators.
—Leslie Katz, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
The struggles against inhuman prejudice, against squalor, ignorance, and disease, have always owed a great deal to the determination and tenacity of women.
—Andrea Wurzburger, PEOPLE, 30 Nov. 2025
Within the mud, squalor and sickness of the contraband camps, so too came the casting away of the former body and an emergence of a fuller kind of selfhood.
—Literary Hub, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for squalor
Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026
There, they were crammed in squalor before being shot to death and buried in mass graves in the Liaudiskiai forest with the help of local Nazi collaborators.
—Leslie Katz, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
The struggles against inhuman prejudice, against squalor, ignorance, and disease, have always owed a great deal to the determination and tenacity of women.
—Andrea Wurzburger, PEOPLE, 30 Nov. 2025
Within the mud, squalor and sickness of the contraband camps, so too came the casting away of the former body and an emergence of a fuller kind of selfhood.
—Literary Hub, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for squalor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for squalor
Noun
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To further prevent obvious staining, choose darker flooring that won't show mud and dirt as easily.—
Claire Hoppe Norgaard,
Better Homes & Gardens,
6 June 2026
-
Each of the 22 rays is represented in the primary somatosensory cortex by a distinct morphological module — a stripe of tissue identifiable under cytochrome oxidase staining, arranged in a pattern that mirrors the star’s geometry.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
20 May 2026
Noun
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An earnest, has-a-costume-for-everything kind of guy, Daub is allergic to the greige and the dinge.—
Sandra Upson,
Wired,
18 Jan. 2021
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Dinges said the two crewmembers whose sleep remained steady -- even in the absence of conventional daylight -- were those who kept to a strict schedule and found other ways to control their biological clocks.—
Michael Nedelman,
CNN,
1 June 2017
Noun
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That’s the dirtiness of rugs and pulling.—
David Canfield,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Apr. 2026
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For a young team learning to stick up for each other, Mangiapane brings a needed dirtiness to the Hawks.—
Kalen Lumpkins,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Fennell continues to have a gift for exposing the sordidness of money and power.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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Neither Eliot nor Jules suspected anything, and the ease of the deception added to its pleasing sordidness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Despite the messiness of the in-person, one-to-one, low tech services, the EDD Job Service counselors and staff of the time often talk with fondness about the culture that grew out of these local services.—
Michael Bernick,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
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The messiness of a 13-year scientific undertaking, the back-channel negotiations, the philosophical disagreements, the institutional maneuvering — none of that fits neatly into an obituary.—
Zachary Utz,
STAT,
15 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Squalor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/squalor. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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