squalid
/ˈskwɒlɪd
/adjective
1(Of a place) extremely dirty and unpleasant, especially as a result of poverty or neglect: the squalid, overcrowded prison...
- His room was squalid and packed with dirty clothes.
- He lives with five of his family in two tiny squalid rooms for which he pays 10,000 of the 15,000 dinars he earns a month.
- Some 1.2 million people have been displaced so far and are forced to live in squalid camps set up by the army to protect them from abductions.
Synonyms
dirty, filthy, grubby, grimy, mucky, slummy, slum-like, foul, vile, low, poor, sorry, wretched, dismal, dingy, miserable, mean, nasty, seedy, shabby, sordid, sleazy, insalubrious, slovenly, repulsive, disgusting;
neglected, uncared-for, unmaintained, broken-down, run down, down at heel, dilapidated, ramshackle, tumbledown, gone to rack and ruin, crumbling, decaying
informal scruffy, scuzzy, crummy, shambly, grungy, ratty, tacky
British informal grotty
North American informal shacky
1.1Showing or involving a contemptible lack of moral standards: a squalid attempt to save themselves from electoral embarrassment...
- His kindness and moral generosity I found uplifting in today's squalid world of denigration, spin and hypocrisy.
- Nobody comes well out of this squalid affair, but he emerges in a worse light than most.
- The history of trade negotiations is littered with hypocritical rhetoric and squalid deals.
Synonyms
improper, sordid, unseemly, unsavoury, sleazy, seedy, seamy, shoddy, vile, foul, tawdry, louche, cheap, base, low, low-minded, nasty, debased, degenerate, depraved, corrupt, dishonest, dishonourable, disreputable, despicable, discreditable, disgraceful, contemptible, ignominious, ignoble, shameful, wretched, abhorrent, odious, abominable, disgusting
informal sleazoid
Derivatives
squalidly
- Just because no one perceived irregularities in his work before his conviction does not mean that the books are not squalidly consistent with his crimes.
squalidity
squalidness
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin squalidus, from squalere 'be rough or dirty'.