verb
- Make soiled, filthy, or dirty.
- usage: "don't soil your clothes when you play outside"
adjective
- Soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime.
- usage: "dirty unswept sidewalks"; "a child in dirty overalls"; "dirty slums"; "piles of dirty dishes"; "put his dirty feet on the clean sheet"; "wore an unclean shirt"; "mining is a dirty job"; "Cinderella did the dirty work while her sisters preened themselves"
- Of behavior or especially language. ( characterized by obscenity or indecency)
- usage: "dirty words"; "a dirty old man"; "dirty books and movies"; "boys telling dirty jokes"; "has a dirty mouth"
- Vile; despicable.
- usage: "a dirty (or lousy) trick"; "a filthy traitor"
- Spreading pollution or contamination; especially radioactive contamination.
- usage: "the air near the foundry was always dirty"; "a dirty bomb releases enormous amounts of long-lived radioactive fallout"
- synonyms: contaminating
- Contaminated with infecting organisms."dirty wounds"; "obliged to go into infected rooms- Jane Austen
- synonyms: pestiferous
- Of color. ( discolored by impurities; not bright and clear)
- usage: "dirty" is often used in combination; "a dirty (or dingy) white"; "the muddied grey of the sea"; "muddy colors"; "dirty-green walls"; "dirty-blonde hair"
- Of a manuscript. ( defaced with changes)
- usage: "foul (or dirty) copy"
- Obtained illegally or by improper means.
- usage: "dirty money"; "ill-gotten gains"
- synonyms: ill-gotten
- Expressing or revealing hostility or dislike.
- usage: "dirty looks"
- Violating accepted standards or rules.
- usage: "a dirty fighter"; "used foul means to gain power"; "a nasty unsporting serve"; "fined for unsportsmanlike behavior"
- synonyms: cheating, foul, unsporting, unsportsmanlike
- Unethical or dishonest.
- usage: "dirty police officers"; "a sordid political campaign"
- synonyms: sordid
- Unpleasantly stormy.
- usage: "there's dirty weather in the offing"
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
| APA | WordNet. (2010). Dirty. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/dirty/definitions/1172491 |
| Chicago | WordNet. 2010. "Dirty" http://smartdefine.org/dirty/definitions/1172491 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | WordNet 2010, Dirty, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/dirty/definitions/1172491>. |
| MLA | WordNet. "Dirty" 23 October 2010. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/dirty/definitions/1172491> |