sordid

Modifies a noun

• tale: A cursory glance at the plot does little to dispel the myth that this is a sordid gothic tale of horror.
• affair: The whole sordid affair was kept secret for nearly 75 years.
• episode: His appeal to John Prescott's vanity is a sordid episode that does little credit to anyone.
• secret: She was young; it was her sordid little secret.
• past: Elsewhere in Ramsay Street, Cheryl's daughter Janine attempts to shake off her sordid past once more.
• story: Now in Judah, the Southern Kingdom the same sordid story was repeated.

Modifying Another Word

• rather: If Hotmail is anything to go by you will also get lots of other stuff on top - some rather sordid.
• very: One naive, one a realist with very little future; both, by media standards, very sordid little lives.
• so: There comes a purpose to stop the world being so sordid, to help the people rather than dismiss them.
• too: It was too ugly, too sordid, too fearful to be heroic.
• pretty: Pretty sordid stuff - all buggery and circle jerks.
• somewhat: It all tended to a common round, a narrow and somewhat sordid outlook.

Used with adjective complement

• feel: At times, tho, it felt unnecessarily sordid.
• say: His blunt and candid style and earthy ( some would say sordid ) subject matter are a Hollywood producer's nightmare.
• get: Here the tale gets even more sordid with shady characters offshore funding and other private investments appearing.