dirty
UK /ˈdɜːti/ · US /ˈdɝti/ adjective, adverb, verb, noun
Forms dirtier dirtiest dirties dirtying dirtied dorty
- adjective Unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant substances such as dirt or grime. “Despite a walk in the rain, my shoes weren't too dirty.”
- adjective That makes one unclean; corrupting, infecting. “Don't put that in your mouth, dear. It's dirty.”
- adjective Morally unclean; obscene or indecent, especially sexually. “At the reception, Uncle Nick got drunk and told dirty jokes to the bridesmaids.”
- adjective Dishonorable; violating accepted standards or rules. “He might have scored, but it was a dirty trick that won him the penalty.”
- adjective Corrupt, illegal, or improper. “I won't accept your dirty money!”
- adjective Out of tune. “You need to tune that guitar: the G string sounds dirty.”
- adjective Of color, discolored by impurities. “The old flag was a dirty white.”
- adjective (computing) Containing data needing to be written back to memory or disk. “Occasionally it reads the sector into a dirty buffer, which means it needs to sync the dirty buffer first.”
- adverb In a dirty manner. “to play dirty”
- verb (transitive) To make (something) dirty.
- verb (transitive) To stain or tarnish (somebody) with dishonor.
- verb (transitive) To debase by distorting the real nature of (something).
- verb (intransitive) To become soiled; to soil or defecate on.
- noun Anything that is dirty.
Synonyms
filthy soiled sordid unclean unwashed black befouled besmirched clarty cruddy dirtsome foul grotty grubby horry icky lousy manky nasty seamy soil begrime grime colly bemire contaminating pestiferous dingy muddied muddy
Antonyms
clean clean as a bean clean as a hound's tooth clean as a new penny clean as a new pin clean as a whistle immaculate pristine spick-and-span spotless squeaky clean stainless
Etymology
From Middle English dirti, alteration of earlier dritti, equivalent to dirt + -y. Cognate with Middle Low German drēterich (“dirty”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Defiled with dirt; foul; nasty; filthy; not clean or pure; serving to defile; as, dirty hands; dirty water; a dirty white. Spenser.
- adjective Sullied; clouded; --applied to color. Locke.
- verb To foul; to make filthy; to soil; as, to dirty the clothes or hands.
- verb To tarnish; to sully; to scandalize; --said of reputation, character, etc.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dirty”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details