sordid
sordid
Definition
sor·did (sôr′did)
adjective
- dirty; filthy
- squalid; depressingly wretched
- base; ignoble; mean
- mercenary, avaricious, grasping, or meanly selfish
Etymology: Fr sordide < L sordidus < sordes, filth < IE base *swordo(s)-, black, dirty > swarthy, Ger schwarz
sor′·didly adverb
sor′·did·ness noun
sordid
Synonyms
sordid
modif.
sordid
Usage Examples
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
