Dictionary

sleazy en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈsliː.zi/

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek Σιλίγγαι (Silíngai)bor. Latin Silingaeder.? Old Polish Ślężader. Old Polish Ślęzader.? Old Polish śląg /ślęgder.? Late Latin Silesialbor. English Silesia English silesia? English sleazy Origin obscure. Possibly a corruption of silesia. Silesia was formerly the most important location of Germany’s weaving industry.

Meanings

1. Marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate.
   • There were two or three all-night diners to choose from and they pushed through the door that announced GOOD EATS in the brightest neon. It was the usual sleazy food-machine - two tired waitresses behind a zinc counter loaded with cigarettes and candy and paperbacks and comics. 1954, Ian Fleming, “The Everglades”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 118:
   • Al bought my furniture at ten percent of its value and Jim drove me to a sleazy side-avenue hotel, where I obtained a room at a low rate. 2014, Louis V. Rohr, The President's Hero, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 3:
2. Raunchy or perverted in nature; tastelessly sexual.
   • Nancy knew it was a sleazy movie because the channel's logo appeared in the lower right corner of the screen. This satellite station only showed sleazy films at this time of the night. Actually its selection of films was trashy at any time, but the after-eleven fare was especially so. […] It's garbage, a step or two removed from pornography. 2000, Stephen D. Dighton, Locked In, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 226:
   • Sleazy, yeah, I like it sleazy / Oh let's get nasty baby / I like it sleazy / I'll take you for a bad ride 1979, “Sleazy”, in Live and Sleazy, performed by Village People:
3. Untrustworthy, unethical.
   • The Gold Dust was a sleazy place, a clip joint with crooked gambling tables in the back and a fleet of B-girls who would give you a few minutes' vapid conversation and a peek at the tops of their breasts if you bought them a three-dollar drink […] 2007, Milton T. Burton, The Sweet and the Dead, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 1:
   • Their reasons are mainly because they are simply people that I would consider sleazy— sleazy, slimy, shady, whatever term you want to use. The point is that, I am not one of them. 2011, Gary Patella, Diary of an Evil Genius, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 38:
   • She hated Ed Feinberg, the sleazy, lying, blood-sucking small-timer. Still he was a man; if he had called her up in the old days, in Seattle, she'd have entertained him. 1934, Lew Levenson, chapter VIII, in Butterfly Man:
4. (dated, of fabric) Thin and flimsy.
   • Shortly after his return in infirm old age to his native land, a little narrative of his adventures, forlornly published on sleazy gray paper, appeared among the peddlers, written, probably, not by himself, but taken down from his lips by another. 1855, Herman Melville, Israel Potter:
   • She noted with tenderness all the makeshifts: the darned chair-arms, the patent rocker covered with sleazy cretonne, the pasted strips of paper mending the birch-bark napkin-rings labeled "Papa" and "Mama." 1920, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 12, in Main Street:
   • I hesitate to describe Sophy Epstein's dress. You won't like it. In the first place, it was cut too low, front and back, for a shoe clerk in a downtown loft. It was a black dress, near-princess in style, very tight as to fit, very short as to skirt, very sleazy as to material. 1912, Edna Ferber, “What She Wore”, in Buttered Side Down:
   • Hilma donned her oldest dress, carried pick and shovel to a flower-blown knoll above the creek and there chose a site for the grave. […] Soon the sleazy dress clung to her back with a sweat of toil, and its stretched web undulated to the smooth play of muscles from shoulder to midback. 1920, Robert Welles Ritchie, chapter 4, in Trails to Two Moons:

Forms

Deriveds

sleaziness · unsleazy · sleaze · sleazily · take it sleazy

Synonyms

pathetic · base · craptastic · slight · one-star · crappy · poor · poor man's · shit · under par · low-quality · chintzy · crapperific · cheesy · second-rate · unreliable · crappo · cheap and nasty · drecky · god-awful · subpar · punk · made in China · shady · naughty · tin-pot · shite · skeezy · bottom-shelf · cheap · questionable · tenth-rate · pound-shop · cruddy · trashy · slazy · cheapshit · mid · BTEC · schlocky · slimy · rubbish · ass · below par · trash · ropy · craptacular · low-grade · sad · slim · garbage · substandard · bad · rinky-dink · low-rent · inferior · crap · bum · scrubby · coffee-and · craptabulous · sketchy · shitty · lousy · woeful · ticky-tacky · flimsy · low · third-rate · shoddy · gash · fourth-rate · wretched · crummy · dogwater

Translations (56)

fr frivole (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · ar بَغِيض (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · fi rähjäinen (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · ru развра́тный (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · pl plugawy (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · pl podejrzany (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · de frivol (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · bg некачествен (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · ru плюга́вый (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · de vulgär (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · cs nechutný (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · pl obskurny (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · da lyssky (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · ca sòrdid (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · cs oplzlý (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · ca deixat (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · pt vulgar (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · es gacho (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · de schmutzig (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · de schäbig (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · fi törkyinen (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · it scadente (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · de heruntergekommen (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · fi rivo (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · ar رَدِيء (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · it malizioso (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · cs slizký (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · es chungo (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · it sordido (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · ro murdar (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · es cutre (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · ca rònec (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · cs mizerný (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · ru гря́зный (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · fr dépravé (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · de mies (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · fr naze (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · ar مُهَلْهَل (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · cmn 猥琐 (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · ru посты́дный (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · fr cochon (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · cs ubohý (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · it volgare (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · ro vulgar (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · it meschino (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · es sórdido (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · ru низкопро́бный (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · fi kurja (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · pt inferior (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · ca tronat (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · pl obskurny (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · es vulgar (raunchy; tastelessly sexual) · fr pourri (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · cs chatrný (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · fr bâclé (marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate) · da skummel (raunchy; tastelessly sexual)