Nearby Words

dirtying

[dur-tee] Origin

dirt·y

[dur-tee] adjective, dirt·i·er, dirt·i·est, verb, dirt·ied, dirt·y·ing, adverb
adjective
1.
soiled with dirt; foul; unclean: dirty laundry.
2.
spreading or imparting dirt; soiling: dirty smoke.
3.
vile; mean; sordid; contemptible: to play a dirty trick on someone.
4.
obscene; pornographic; lewd: a dirty joke.
5.
undesirable or unpleasant; thankless: He left the dirty work for me.
EXPAND
6.
very unfortunate or regrettable: That's a dirty shame!
7.
not fair or sportsmanlike; unscrupulous: a dirty fighter.
8.
hostile, insulting, contemptuous, or resentful: She gave me a dirty look. He made a dirty crack about the cooking.
9.
(of a nuclear weapon) producing a relatively large amount of radioactive fallout.
10.
(of the weather) stormy; squally: It looks dirty to windward.
11.
Informal. obtained through illegal or disreputable means: dirty money.
12.
appearing as if soiled; dark-colored; dingy; murky.
13.
Slang. using or in possession of narcotics.
14.
Foreign Exchange. (of currency floats) manipulated, as by a central bank influencing or changing exchange rates (opposed to clean).
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
15.
to make or become dirty.

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Dirtying is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
adverb
16.
Informal. in a mean, unscrupulous, or underhand way: to play dirty.
17.
Informal. in a lewd manner: to talk dirty.
18.
do (someone) dirty, Slang. to treat unfairly or reprehensibly, as by cheating or slandering.

Origin:
1520–30; dirt + -y1

dirt·i·ly, adverb
dirt·i·ness, noun


1. grimy, defiled. Dirty, filthy, foul, squalid refer to that which is not clean. Dirty is applied to that which is filled or covered with dirt so that it is unclean or defiled: dirty clothes. Filthy is an emphatic word suggesting something that is excessively soiled or dirty: filthy streets. Both dirty and filthy can refer to obscenity: a dirty mind, a filthy novel. Foul implies an uncleanness that is grossly offensive to the senses: a foul odor. Squalid, applied usually to dwellings or surroundings, implies dirtiness that results from the slovenly indifference often associated with poverty: a squalid tenement. 3. base, vulgar, low, shabby, groveling. 4. nasty, lascivious, lecherous. 10. rainy, foul, sloppy, disagreeable, nasty. 12. dull, dark, sullied, clouded. 15. soil, befoul, sully.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To dirtying
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

dirty
c.1500, from dirt + -y (2). Meaning "Smutty, morally unclean" is from 1590s. Dirty linen "personal or familial secrets" is first recorded 1860s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

dirty definition


  1. mod.
    obscene. : The movie was too dirty for me.
  2. mod.
    low and sneaky. : What a dirty thing to do!
  3. mod.
    illegal; on the wrong side of the law. (Compare this with clean.) : The cops knew that Last Card Louie was dirty, and they searched his car until they found something they could use against him.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
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