sleazy

[slee-zee, sley-zee] /ˈsli zi, ˈsleɪ zi/

adjective, sleazier, sleaziest.

contemptibly low, mean, or disreputable:

sleazy politics.

squalid; sordid; filthy; dilapidated:

a sleazy hotel.

thin or poor in texture, as a fabric; cheap; flimsy:

a sleazy dress; a sleazy excuse.

Origin

1635-45; (def 3) of obscure origin (probably unrelated to Silesia other than by folk etymology); sense of defs. 1-2 (first attested 1941) perhaps represent a distinct word

Related forms

sleazily, adverb

sleaziness, noun

Examples from the web for sleazy

The for-profits didn't teach us any of these sleazy innovations.
Yet frequent crackdowns and the occasional toppling of sleazy officials appear to have little impact.
We were all giddy at the prospect of an evening's unchained fun, sleazy adventure divorced from consequences.
But venture capitalists have yet to invest in the firm, which needs to ensure its service is not used to sleazy ends.
Although a slightly sleazy business, it was hugely profitable.
The camera catches the perfect pair clowning an elaborate kiss against the sleazy panorama.
Once you start dating the sleazy old professor, disillusionment sets in.
Journalism is sleazy because it's a consumer product, so many of its offerings are biased.
Denigrating the self promotion of others as a way of promoting yourself is ugly and sleazy.
He was sleazy in a delightful sort of way, the anti-Fox, and audiences and critics loved it.

British Dictionary definitions for sleazy

sleazy

/ˈsliːzɪ/

adjective -zier, -ziest

sordid; disreputable: a sleazy nightclub

thin or flimsy, as cloth

Derived Forms

sleazily, adverb
sleaziness, noun

Word Origin

C17: origin uncertain

Word Origin and History for sleazy

adj.

1640s, "downy, fuzzy," later "flimsy, unsubstantial" (1660s), of unknown origin; one theory is that it is a corruption of Silesia, the German region, where thin linen or cotton fabric was made for export. Silesia in reference to cloth is attested in English from 1670s; and sleazy as an abbreviated form is attested from 1670), but OED is against this. Sense of "sordid" is from 1941. Related: Sleazily; sleaziness.

A day is a more magnificent cloth than any muslin, the mechanism that makes it is infinitely cunninger, and you shall not conceal the sleazy, fraudulent, rotten hours you have slipped into the piece, nor fear that any honest thread, or straighter steel, or more inflexible shaft, will not testify in the web. [Emerson, "The Conduct of Life," 1860]

Slang definitions & phrases for sleazy

sleazy

adjective

Disgusting; filthy; nasty; grungy, scuzzy: dirty buildings in sleazy sections/ a tremendous evocation of the sleazoid speed-freak scene/ who makes sleazo blood films

[entry form 1941+, second 1972+, third 1970s+; fr the late 1600s British sleasie, ''thin, flimsy, threadbare,'' of uncertain origin, whence it came to mean ''of inferior workmanship, shoddy''; perhaps fr Sleasie, ''Silesian,'' used of linen cloth from that part of Germany]