sordid

English

Etymology

From Middle English sordide, from Latin sordidus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔː.dɪd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔɹdɪd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)dɪd
• Homophone: sorted (in some varieties)

Adjective

sordid (comparative sordider, superlative sordidest)

1. Distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible.
   • 1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter 6, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC, pages 88–89:

     The more hopelessly sordid and insensible he appeared, the greater became Mrs. Shelby's dread of his succeeding in recapturing Eliza and her child, and of course the greater her motive for detaining him by every female artifice.

2. Dirty or squalid.
3. Morally degrading.
   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl:

     He rode slowly home along the deserted road, watching the stars come out in the clear violet sky. They flashed softly into the limpid heavens, like jewels let fall into clear water. They were a reproach, he felt, to a sordid world.

   • 1994, The Lion King, Be Prepared musical number:

     I know it sounds sordid but you'll be rewarded, when at last I've been given my dues.

   • 2006, John C. Roberts, concurrence and dissent in part in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006)

     It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.

4. Grasping; stingy; avaricious.
5. (biology) Of a dull colour.
   • 1926, Paul Carpenter Standley, Trees and Shrubs of Mexico: Bignoniaceae-Asteraceae, page 1530:

     Leaves sordid-tomentulose beneath

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:greedy, Thesaurus:unclean

Derived terms

• sordidity
• sordidly
• sordidness

Translations

distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible

Bulgarian: гаден (bg) (gaden), подъл (bg) (podǎl) Chinese: Mandarin: 卑鄙 (zh) (bēibǐ), 下賤 / 下贱 (zh) (xiàjiàn) Czech: nechutný, hnusný (cs), odporný (cs) Dutch: verachtelijk (nl) Esperanto: sordida (eo) Finnish: mauton (fi), tyylitön (fi) French: sordide (fr) Macedonian: га́ден (gáden), по́дол (pódol) Maori: tautau(w)hea, whakatautau(w)hea Thai: ต่ำช้า (th), เลวทราม (th) Ukrainian: огидний (uk) m (ohydnyj), мерзенний m (merzennyj)

dirty or squalid

Bulgarian: мръсен (bg) (mrǎsen) Catalan: sòrdid Chinese: Mandarin: 不潔 / 不洁 (bùjié), 污穢/汙穢 / 污秽/污秽, 污秽 (zh) (wūhuì) Czech: odporný (cs), špinavý (cs), zaplivaný Dutch: smerig (nl) Finnish: likainen (fi), kurja (fi), rähjäinen (fi), saastainen (fi) French: saleté (fr) German: dreckig (de), schäbig (de), schmutzig (de) Hungarian: piszkos (hu), szennyes (hu) Irish: salach Latin: sordidus Macedonian: ва́лкан (válkan), гна́сен (gnásen) Maori: poke (mi) Plautdietsch: schmutzich Russian: гря́зный (ru) (grjáznyj) Spanish: sórdido (es) Ukrainian: брудний (uk) m (brudnyj) Welsh: bawaidd

morally degrading

Albanian: pistë (sq) Bulgarian: безчестен (bg) (bezčesten) Catalan: sòrdid Dutch: smerig (nl) Finnish: moraalisesti alhainen, halpamainen (fi) French: sordide (fr) German: schmutzig (de), schäbig (de) Hungarian: hitvány (hu), közönséges (hu) Irish: suarach Macedonian: бе́счесен (bésčesen), ни́зок (nízok) Maori: poke (mi) Plautdietsch: schmutzich Portuguese: sórdido (pt) Russian: опустившийся (ru) (opustivšijsja), ни́зкий (ru) (nízkij) Spanish: sórdido (es) Welsh: iselwael

grasping

Bulgarian: алчен (bg) (alčen) Dutch: gierig (nl) French: avide (fr) German: geizig (de) Hungarian: anyagias (hu), kapzsi (hu), zsugori (hu) Macedonian: а́лчен (álčen) Russian: коры́стный (ru) (korýstnyj), жа́дный (ru) (žádnyj) Spanish: sórdido (es) Ukrainian: корисливий m (koryslyvyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) crapuleux (fr) (1, 2, 3)

Anagrams

• 'droids, disord, dorids, droids

Estonian

Noun

sordid

1. nominative plural of sort

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French sordide, from Latin sordidus.

Adjective

sordid m or n (feminine singular sordidă, masculine plural sordizi, feminine and neuter plural sordide)

1. sordid

Declension

Declension of sordid

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	sordid		sordidă		sordizi	sordide
	definite	sordidul		sordida		sordizii	sordidele
genitive- dative	indefinite	sordid		sordide		sordizi	sordide
	definite	sordidului		sordidei		sordizilor	sordidelor