Complete classic literature • Five-line readings • Clear US narration
VELMORA ACADEMY
Academy of Archival Languages & Memory Studies
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dirty

adjective US /ˈdɜːrti/

soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime

How often you will meet it

Rank 2,442 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 7,016 times across 155,370 chapters — 0.003% of every word in the library.

What it means

adjective

  1. soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime also: soiled, unclean dirty unswept sidewalksa child in dirty overalls
  2. (of behavior or especially language) characterized by obscenity or indecency dirty wordsa dirty old man
  3. vile; despicable also: filthy, lousy a dirty (or lousy) tricka filthy traitor
  4. spreading pollution or contamination; especially radioactive contamination also: contaminating the air near the foundry was always dirtya dirty bomb releases enormous amounts of long-lived radioactive fallout
  5. contaminated with infecting organisms also: pestiferous dirty woundsobliged to go into infected rooms
  6. (of color) discolored by impurities; not bright and clear also: dingy, muddied, muddy dirtya dirty (or dingy) white

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · Princeton WordNet 3.1

dirty in real books

Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.

  • Let any match between Dick and Milly go forward clean and not dirty.

    The Torch and Other Tales · Eden Phillpotts · Chapter 1

  • Some of the Sixth Form at the Manor made their fags unlace their dirty football boots.

    The Hill: A Romance of Friendship · Horace Annesley Vachell · Chapter 1

  • And then, looking toward the bed, he saw that dirty lady, and held his breath with astonishment.

    The Water-Babies · Charles Kingsley · Chapter 1

  • At first it was quite dark, and the flaming torch only lit up dirty grey stone walls.

    The Yellow Fairy Book: The Grateful Beasts · World Traditions (Celtic, Norse, Asian & Persian) · Chapter 1

  • She was a tall thin child, with a dirty and very intelligent face, great grey eyes, and long reddish hair.

    Punch — Volume 101, November 7, 1891 · Various · Chapter 1

Nearby in the frequency table

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