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sordid

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sor⋅did

  [sawr-did]
Use sordid in a Sentence
–adjective
1. morally ignoble or base; vile: sordid methods.
2. meanly selfish, self-seeking, or mercenary.
3. dirty or filthy.
4. squalid; wretchedly poor and run-down: sordid housing.
Origin:
1590–1600; < L sordidus, equiv. to sord(ēs) dirt + -idus -id 4

Related forms:
sor⋅did⋅ly, adverb
sor⋅did⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. degraded, depraved. See mean 2 . 2. avaricious, tight, close, stingy. 3. soiled, unclean, foul.

Antonyms:
1. honorable. 2. generous. 3. clean.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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sor·did   (sôr'dĭd)   
adj.  

  1. Filthy or dirty; foul.

  2. Depressingly squalid; wretched: sordid shantytowns.

  3. Morally degraded: "The sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils" (James Joyce). See Synonyms at mean2.

  4. Exceedingly mercenary; grasping.


[Middle English sordide, festering, purulent, from Latin sordidus, dirty, from sordēre, to be dirty.]
sor'did·ly adv., sor'did·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

sordid 
1584, "festering," from L. sordidus "dirty," from sordere "be dirty, be shabby," related to sordes "dirt," from PIE base *swordo- "black, dirty" (cf. Goth. swarts, O.E. sweart "black"). Sense of "foul, low, mean" first recorded 1611.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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