dirty

—dirtily, adv. —dirtiness, n.

/derr"tee/, adj., dirtier, dirtiest, v., dirtied, dirtying, adv.

adj.

1. soiled with dirt; foul; unclean: dirty laundry.

2. spreading or imparting dirt; soiling: dirty smoke.

3. vile; mean; sordid; contemptible: to play a dirty trick on someone.

4. obscene; pornographic; lewd: a dirty joke.

5. undesirable or unpleasant; thankless: He left the dirty work for me.

6. very unfortunate or regrettable: That's a dirty shame!

7. not fair or sportsmanlike; unscrupulous: a dirty fighter.

8. hostile, insulting, contemptuous, or resentful: She gave me a dirty look. He made a dirty crack about the cooking.

9. (of a nuclear weapon) producing a relatively large amount of radioactive fallout.

10. (of the weather) stormy; squally: It looks dirty to windward.

11. Informal. obtained through illegal or disreputable means: dirty money.

12. appearing as if soiled; dark-colored; dingy; murky.

13. Slang. using or in possession of narcotics.

14. Foreign Exchange. (of currency floats) manipulated, as by a central bank influencing or changing exchange rates (opposed to clean).

15. do (someone) dirty, Slang. to treat unfairly or reprehensibly, as by cheating or slandering.

v.t., v.i.

16. to make or become dirty.

adv.

17. Informal. in a mean, unscrupulous, or underhand way: to play dirty.

18. Informal. in a lewd manner: to talk dirty.

[1520-30; DIRT + -Y¹]

Syn. 1. grimy, defiled. DIRTY, FILTHY, FOUL, SQUALID refer to that which is not clean. DIRTY is applied to that which is filled or covered with dirt so that it is unclean or defiled: dirty clothes. FILTHY is an emphatic word suggesting something that is excessively soiled or dirty: filthy streets. Both DIRTY and FILTHY can refer to obscenity: a dirty mind, a filthy novel.

FOUL implies an uncleanness that is grossly offensive to the senses: a foul odor. SQUALID, applied usually to dwellings or surroundings, implies dirtiness that results from the slovenly indifference often associated with poverty: a squalid tenement. 3. base, vulgar, low, shabby, groveling. 4. nasty, lascivious, lecherous. 10. rainy, foul, sloppy, disagreeable, nasty. 12. dull, dark, sullied, clouded. 16. soil, befoul, sully.

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