filth
Americannoun
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offensive or disgusting dirt or refuse; foul matter.
the filth dumped into our rivers.
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foul condition.
to live in filth.
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moral impurity, corruption, or obscenity.
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vulgar or obscene language or thought.
noun
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foul or disgusting dirt; refuse
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extreme physical or moral uncleanliness; pollution
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vulgarity or obscenity, as in language
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derogatory the police
Etymology
Origin of filth
before 1000; Middle English; Old English fȳlth. See foul, -th 1
Explanation
Filth is disgusting dirt, grime, or other unsavory material. Filth is dog poop all over the sidewalk, gunk under a movie seat. You can use the noun filth when you're talking about some grimy substance, like the smelly filth on the bottom of your shoes after you've walked across a cow pasture. You can also call a general state of uncleanliness filth. You might say that the filth in your brother's room makes it impossible to open the door. Some people also use this word for material they deem to be obscene. The Old English root word is fylð, which means "rotting matter." Ew.
Vocabulary lists containing filth
Theodore Roosevelt on "The Man with the Muck Rake" (1906)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Old Filth himself is a retired judge looking back on life, with recollections of the British Empire in better days.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
Nsg says he was inspired by the Julien Temple film “The Filth and the Fury” on the Sex Pistols.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2022
Filth and disease were everywhere: Cholera, staph infections, deadly pneumonia and even polio.
From Salon • May 23, 2020
“Somehow I became respectable,” he laments on the first page of his new tell-almost-all memoir, “Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder.”
From Seattle Times • May 27, 2019
Filth had laid seige to the Ayemenem House like a medieval army advancing on an enemy castle.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
