sordid

[sawr-did] /ˈsɔr dɪd/

adjective

morally ignoble or base; vile:

sordid methods.

meanly selfish, self-seeking, or mercenary.

dirty or filthy.

squalid; wretchedly poor and run-down:

sordid housing.

Origin

1590-1600; < Latin sordidus, equivalent to sord(ēs) dirt + -idus -id⁴

Related forms

sordidly, adverb

sordidness, noun

unsordid, adjective

unsordidly, adverb

unsordidness, noun

Can be confused

sordid, sorted.

Synonyms

1. degraded, depraved. See mean² . 2. avaricious, tight, close, stingy. 3. soiled, unclean, foul.

Antonyms

1. honorable. 2. generous. 3. clean.

Examples from the web for sordid

But the torch and the opening ceremony transcended those rather sordid origins, and it became this wonderful tradition.
The sordid history of mixing genetics, ethnicity and intellect guarantees a spotlight on this work.
He'd then refer to some incident and twist the scenario into a sordid situation that never took place.
However, when the courts enter this mirk of secrecy it only add one more layer of confusion and complexity to this sordid horror.
It is strange to think that such sordid motives might affect something as pure and objective as physics.
Traces the sordid history of the president's descendants.
How many sink into the sordid hut of cheerless poverty.
But the story of his life must be admitted to be in its externals a painful and somewhat sordid chronicle.
Few have ever equalled him in the portrayal of the sordid, every-day realities of poverty.
Nor were her gifts all in the sordid coin of commerce.

British Dictionary definitions for sordid

sordid

/ˈsɔːdɪd/

adjective

dirty, foul, or squalid

degraded; vile; base: a sordid affair

selfish and grasping: sordid avarice

Derived Forms

sordidly, adverb
sordidness, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Latin sordidus, from sordēre to be dirty

Word Origin and History for sordid

adj.

early 15c., "festering," from Latin sordidus "dirty, filthy, foul, vile, mean, base," from sordere "be dirty, be shabby," related to sordes "dirt, filth," from PIE *swrd-e-, from root *swordo- "black, dirty" (cf. Old English sweart "black"). Sense of "foul, low, mean" first recorded 1610s. Related: Sordidly; sordidness.