sordid
Americanadjective
-
dirty, foul, or squalid
-
degraded; vile; base
a sordid affair
-
selfish and grasping
sordid avarice
Related Words
See mean 2.
Other Word Forms
- sordidly adverb
- sordidness noun
- unsordid adjective
- unsordidly adverb
- unsordidness noun
Etymology
Origin of sordid
1590–1600; from Latin sordidus, equivalent to sord(ēs) “dirt” + -idus -id 4
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, they portrayed Dr. Kane as selflessly helping a young girl rise from her sordid profession by providing a proper education—polishing his image as a kind of super-generous superhero.
From Literature
Long before his role in the Epstein case came to light, Brunel already had a sordid reputation in the fashion world.
Bridger was described by those who knew him as "always confident, courteous and charming" but when police seized his computer, a sordid secret was revealed.
From BBC
For those outside the citadel—anti-boomer millennials, Gen Z, the underpaid and aggrieved—the Epstein revelations tell a sordid story they’ve long suspected.
Meanwhile, the locals continued to pursue their delightfully sordid lifestyles with a lot more personal privacy than would seem likely in smalltown America.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
