lowdown

[ noun loh-doun; adjective loh-doun ]
See synonyms for: lowdownlowdowns on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. Usually the lowdown . the real and unadorned facts; the true, secret, or inside information: We gave them the lowdown on the new housing project.

adjectiveAlso low-down .
  1. contemptible; base; mean: a lowdown trick.

  2. low, especially socially or morally; degraded.

Origin of lowdown

1
First recorded in 1540–50; low1 + down1

Words Nearby lowdown

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use lowdown in a sentence

  • lowdown Mr. Lee trained the elephants to shoot mud and water from their trunks whenever threatened.

    How Palin Will Change the GOP | Stanley Crouch | October 14, 2008 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • He treated me mighty sorry—it was lowdown and mean all the way through, the way he done me—but I didn't mean him no real harm.

    The Escape of Mr. Trimm | Irvin S. Cobb
  • Here's the behind-the-scenes lowdown on Luna City life and a promoter of Martian dancing girls, vaudeville, and—other things.

    Show Business | William C. Boyd
  • You can't give up a lowdown trade That your ancestors began; A butcher butchers things, and yet He's the tenderest-hearted man.

  • He could be lowdown and vulgar enough to ask right out if he wished.

    At Good Old Siwash | George Fitch
  • One is lowdown and contemptible and nasty, and the other is expedient.

    At Good Old Siwash | George Fitch

British Dictionary definitions for low-down

low-down

/ informal /


adjective
  1. mean, underhand, or despicable

nounlowdown
  1. information, esp secret or true information

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012