• Dirty

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ˈdɜː(ɹ)ti/
    • US IPA: /ˈdɜɹti/
    • NYC IPA: /ˈdÉœjɾi/
    • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ti

    Origin

    From dirt + -y.

    Full definition of dirty

    Adjective

    dirty

    1. Unclean; covered with or containing unpleasant substances such as dirt or grime.
    2. Despite a walk in the rain, my shoes weren't too dirty.
    3. That makes one unclean; corrupting, infecting.
      Don't put that in your mouth, dear, it's dirty.
    4. Morally unclean; obscene or indecent, especially sexually.
      At the reception, Uncle Nick got drunk and told dirty jokes to the bridesmaids.
    5. Dishonourable; violating accepted standards or rules.
      • 2013-06-21, Oliver Burkeman, The tao of tech, The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable....Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.
    6. He might have scored, but it was a dirty trick that won him the penalty.
    7. Corrupt, illegal, or improper.
      I won't accept your dirty money!
    8. Out of tune.
      You need to tune that guitar, the g string sounds dirty.
    9. Of color, discolored by impurities.
      The old flag was a dirty white.
    10. (computing) Containing data which need to be written back to a larger memory.
      Occasionally it reads the sector into a dirty buffer, which means it needs to sync the dirty buffer first.
    11. (slang) Carrying illegal drugs among one's possessions or inside of one's bloodstream.
      None of y'all get into my car if you're dirty.
    12. (informal) Used as an intensifier, especially in conjunction with "great".
      He lives in a dirty great mansion.
    13. Sleety; gusty; stormy.
      • M. ArnoldStorms of wind, clouds of dust, an angry, dirty sea.
      • Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the FishRain type 17 was a dirty blatter battering against his windscreen so hard that it didn't make much odds whether he had his wipers on or off.
    14. dirty weather

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

    • (covered with or containing dirt) clean
    • (violating accepted standards or rules) sportsmanlike
    • (of color: discolored by impurities) bright, pure

    Adverb

    dirty

    1. In a dirty manner.
      to play dirty

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To make (something) dirty.
    2. (transitive) To stain or tarnish (somebody) with dishonor.
    3. (transitive) To debase by distorting the real nature of (something).
    4. (intransitive) To become soiled.

    Synonyms

    • (to make dirty) soil, taint; see also
    • (to stain or tarnish with dishonor) sully
    © Wiktionary