grubby

¹

[ gruhb-ee ]

adjective

, grub·bi·er, grub·bi·est.

1. dirty; slovenly:

   children with grubby faces and sad eyes.

   Synonyms: bedraggled, filthy, messy, unkempt, grimy

2. infested with or affected by grubs or larvae.
3. contemptible:

   grubby political tricks.

grubby

²

[ gruhb-ee ]

noun

, plural grub·bies.

1. a small sculpin, Myxocephalus aenaeus, inhabiting waters off the coast of New England.

grubby

/ ˈɡrʌbɪ /

adjective

1. dirty; slovenly
2. mean; beggarly
3. infested with grubs

Derived Forms

• ˈgrubbily, adverb
• ˈgrubbiness, noun

Other Words From

• grubbi·ly adverb
• grubbi·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of grubby¹

First recorded in 1605–15; grub + -y ¹

Origin of grubby²

Origin uncertain

Example Sentences

For one, it’s easier to see dust and smudges on a dark surface, so you’ll be able to target those grubby fingerprints with surgical precision.

From Popular-Science

Tape and grips start out all sparkly clean but get grubby pretty quick.

From Outside Online

There were many volumes about precocious British tots with “nannies and pony carts,” she said, but none that would appeal to “grubby neighborhood kids” like the boy before her — or to the adventure-seeking girl she had once been.

From Washington Post

From the outside, VertiVegies looked like a handful of grubby shipping containers put side by side and drilled together.

From MIT Technology Review

But Paltrow and Lively insist on deep meaning besides the grubby business of trade.

From The Daily Beast

Perfume bottles and weathered papyrus replicas gather dust in the grubby window displays of the empty shops.

From The Daily Beast

Most of all, how could anyone film—or inflict upon viewers—such gratuitous, relentlessly grubby sexual content?

From The Daily Beast

His friend to the north, Paul Kagame, is another authoritarian with grubby hands, feted nonetheless.

From The Daily Beast

Before the envelope containing salacious details makes it into the grubby hands of the media, tell everything.

From The Daily Beast

The cleaner-by-the-day will do the grubby things and I shall like it.

From Project Gutenberg

(p. 107) It was a grubby farm with not much water, but we made the best of it, and settled down for the night.

From Project Gutenberg

Open the bag, and turn the contents out in the lap of the dark-colored robe, grubby hands poking.

From Project Gutenberg

Cross the Rockies to Vancouver, and you're back among dirty walls, grubby furniture, and inadequate literature again.

From Project Gutenberg

It was some grubby affair that made me thank God for the sunlight.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• filthy
• grimy
• grungy
• messy
• seedy
• shabby
• soiled
• squalid
• unkempt