Synonyms

dirty work

American

noun

disagreeable, often tedious tasks.
any illegal or dishonest dealing.

dirty work Idioms

An unpleasant, distasteful, or thankless task or job. For example, Jane complained that she had to do all the dirty work while her colleagues took long vacations. [First half of 1900s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Instead, it’s better to humor him by pursuing it and letting some element of the legal system—a judge, a grand jury—do the dirty work of keeping the rule of law at least somewhat intact.

From Slate

Along the way it built a legacy for relying on PGMs to do America’s dirty work—a capability enhanced by a new and advanced guidance system that could track a moving target and then use drones to deliver steel on steel without risking a single American life.

From The Wall Street Journal

We just took off in our dirty work clothes and Wellington boots with our farm baskets on our heads.

From Literature

“Everybody wants somebody else to get the dirty work,” Cronin said.

From Los Angeles Times

Thanks to recent advancements, some recyclers are now employing machines to do this dirty work.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023