Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Morally degraded: synonym: base.
- adjective Dirty or filthy.
- adjective Squalid or wretched.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Dirty; filthy; squalid; foul.
- In bot, and zoology, of a dull or dirty hue; impure; muddy: noting a color when it appears as if clouded by admixture with another, or parts so colored: as, sordid blue, etc.
- Morally foul; gross; base; vile; ignoble; selfish; miserly.
- Low; menial; groveling.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Filthy; foul; dirty.
- adjective Vile; base; gross; mean.
- adjective Meanly avaricious; covetous; niggardly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Dirty or
squalid . - adjective Morally
degrading . - adjective
Grasping .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective morally degraded
- adjective unethical or dishonest
- adjective foul and run-down and repulsive
- adjective meanly avaricious and mercenary
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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DALLAS - Texas prosecutors on Thursday abruptly ended a three-year criminal probe into what they called a sordid small-town swinger's club where children as young as 5 were forced into performing sex.
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As a result of the grand jury's report on what it called "sordid, shocking acts," Monsignor William Lynn, former secretary of the clergy in the Archdiocese, faces charges of child endangerment.
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The majority of the world's people live in sordid conditions, deprived of basic necessities.
Democracy in India 1973
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Three years passed in sordid struggle and disappointment.
The Promised Land 1912
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It’s all very fine in its way, but somehow it’s what I call sordid and the port is terrible.
Cargo of Eagles Allingham, Margery, 1904-1966. n 50021032-1 1968
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It’s all very fine in its way, but somehow it’s what I call sordid and the port is terrible.
Cargo of Eagles Allingham, Margery, 1904-1966. n 50021032-1 1968
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Around this time, notice, he didn't give specific dates as he's, you know, recalling his sordid history he didn't give specific dates.
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Russian literature, faced with the realities of modern life, a spirit titanic and in clash with its material, and produced in the mastery of this every-day material, commonly called sordid, a phantasmagoria intense with beauty.
Taras Bulba 2003
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The nomad and romantic in him, troubled and restless with Ukrainian myth, legend, and song, impressed upon Russian literature, faced with the realities of modern life, a spirit titanic and in clash with its material, and produced in the mastery of this every-day material, commonly called sordid, a phantasmagoria intense with beauty.
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The nomad and romantic in him, troubled and restless with Ukrainian myth, legend, and song, impressed upon Russian literature, faced with the realities of modern life, a spirit titanic and in clash with its material, and produced in the mastery of this every-day material, commonly called sordid, a phantasmagoria intense with beauty.
Taras Bulba and Other Tales Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol 1830
bilby commented on the word sordid
"Unless some formal inquiry is convened to look into a sordid history that reached its depths in the Bush era, and so begins to break this cycle of deceit, exposé, and paralysis followed by more of the same, we're likely, a few years hence, to find ourselves right back where we are now."
- Alfred W. McCoy, Confronting the CIA's Mind Maze, tomdispatch.com, 7 June 2009.
June 8, 2009
katiegiles commented on the word sordid
Johnathan Kellerman-Flesh and Blood: " I suppose. And Lauren did say she liked you... All right, its nothing sordid, anyway"
November 12, 2010