Dictionary

sordid en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈsɔː.dɪd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈsɔɹdɪd/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin sordēs Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Italic *-ējō Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ēō Latin -eō Latin sordeō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin sordidusder. Middle English sordid ▲ Latin sordiduslbor. French sordideder. English sordid From Middle English sordide, from Latin sordidus. Alternatively from French sordide.

Meanings

1. Distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible.
   • The politician was involved in a sordid money laundering scheme.
   • The more hopelessly sordid and insensible he appeared, the greater became Mrs. Shelby's dread of his succeeding in recapturing Eliza and her child, and of course the greater her motive for detaining him by every female artifice. 1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter 6, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC, pages 88–89:
2. Dirty or squalid.
   • They rented a sordid apartment together.
3. Morally degrading.
   • It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race. 2006, John C. Roberts, concurrence and dissent in part in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006)
   • He rode slowly home along the deserted road, watching the stars come out in the clear violet sky. They flashed softly into the limpid heavens, like jewels let fall into clear water. They were a reproach, he felt, to a sordid world. 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl:
   • I know it sounds sordid but you'll be rewarded, when at last I've been given my dues. 1994, The Lion King, Be Prepared musical number
4. Grasping; stingy; avaricious.
5. Of a dull colour.
   • Leaves sordid-tomentulose beneath 1926, Paul Carpenter Standley, Trees and Shrubs of Mexico: Bignoniaceae-Asteraceae, page 1530:

Forms

Deriveds

sordidness · sordidly · sordidity · unsordid

Relateds

grimy · squalid · filthy · vile

Synonyms

seedy · unclean · seamy

Translations (84)

fi mauton (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · mk га́ден (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · cmn 下賤 /下贱 (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · fi likainen (dirty or squalid) · de schmutzig (morally degrading) · hu piszkos (dirty or squalid) · pt sórdido (morally degrading) · de widerwärtig (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · mi poke (morally degrading) · mk ва́лкан (dirty or squalid) · uk мерзенний (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · fr saleté (dirty or squalid) · bg алчен (grasping) · nl gierig (grasping) · eo sordida (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · bg мръсен (dirty or squalid) · mi poke (dirty or squalid) · mk гна́сен (dirty or squalid) · de dreckig (dirty or squalid) · ca sòrdid (dirty or squalid) · pdt schmutzich (dirty or squalid) · pdt schmutzich (morally degrading) · es sórdido (grasping) · hu közönséges (morally degrading) · mk а́лчен (grasping) · cs hnusný (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · de schäbig (morally degrading) · fi tyylitön (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · ca sòrdid (morally degrading) · uk огидний (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · cs nechutný (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · mk ни́зок (morally degrading) · uk корисливий (grasping) · de niederträchtig (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · cy bawaidd (dirty or squalid) · de schäbig (dirty or squalid) · sq pistë (morally degrading) · hu hitvány (morally degrading) · es sórdido (dirty or squalid) · bg подъл (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · de geizig (grasping) · mk бе́счесен (morally degrading) · ru коры́стный (grasping) · hu szennyes (dirty or squalid) · uk брудний (dirty or squalid) · bg гаден (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · cs zaplivaný (dirty or squalid) · cs odporný (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · de schmutzig (dirty or squalid) · fi saastainen (dirty or squalid) · de verachtenswert (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · ga suarach (morally degrading) · la sordidus (dirty or squalid) · fi kurja (dirty or squalid) · fr sordide (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · ru жа́дный (grasping) · mi tautau(w)hea (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · fr avide (grasping) · mi whakatautau(w)hea (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · bg безчестен (morally degrading) · cs odporný (dirty or squalid) · hu zsugori (grasping) · nl smerig (morally degrading) · es sórdido (morally degrading) · fi rähjäinen (dirty or squalid) · ru гря́зный (dirty or squalid) · cmn 卑鄙 (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · hu kapzsi (grasping) · ga salach (dirty or squalid) · ru ни́зкий (morally degrading) · cmn 不潔 /不洁 (dirty or squalid) · nl smerig (dirty or squalid) · fr sordide (morally degrading) · cs špinavý (dirty or squalid) · cmn 污穢 /汙穢 /污秽 (dirty or squalid) · ru опустившийся (morally degrading) · hu anyagias (grasping) · mk по́дол (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · nl verachtelijk (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · th เลวทราม (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible) · fi moraalisesti alhainen (morally degrading) · cy iselwael (morally degrading) · fi halpamainen (morally degrading) · th ต่ำช้า (distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible)