Sleaze

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːz

Origin

Back-formation from {{3}}, originally used to describe the thinness and low quality of cloth.

Full definition of sleaze

Noun

1. (uncountable) low moral standards
• 2004, London Review of Books, 19 Aug 2004:ministerial sleaze and mendacity
• 1988, The New Yorker, 11 Jan 1988:The level of sleaze in this city seems to have been rising rapidly in recent years.
2. (countable) a person with low moral standards
• 1999, E. Brewer, Picking Up the Marbles, AuthorHouse, ISBN 978-1-58500-837-7, p. 162.She knew that sleaze Hakido would do something to stick the knife in and twist it to the hilt.
3. (countable) a man who is sexually aggressive or forward with women to the point of disgust
• 1989, Weekly World News, "My hubby robbed the cradle and left me with the baby", 7 November, p. 42.I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that sleaze slept with your boss and I wouldn't take it lying down.
• 1996, S. Hoskinson Frommer, Buried in Quilts, Harlequin, ISBN 978-0-37326-204-5, p. 64.Mother, he's such a sleaze! The way he looked at you!
4. sleazy materiala tabloid newspaper full of sleaze

Related terms

• sleazebag
• sleazemonger
• sleaze-merchant
• sleazy

Verb

1. To act or progress in a sleazy manner.He sleazed his way over to the women at the bar.
2. To slander.