salty
Americanadjective
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racy or coarse.
salty humor.
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of the sea, sailing, or life at sea.
salty tales of adventure on the high seas.
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Slang. (especially of a sailor) toughened by experience.
proud and salty Marines.
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Slang. angry, upset, or hostile, especially due to embarrassment or failure.
He gets all salty whenever he loses.
adjective
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of, tasting of, or containing salt
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(esp of humour) sharp; piquant
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relating to life at sea
Usage
What else does salty mean? Salty is a slang term for irritated, angry, or resentful, especially as a result of losing or being slighted. This sense of salty originates in and was popularized by Black English.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of salty
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; see origin at salt 1, -y 1
Explanation
Potato chips and sea captains are salty. Salty can mean literally covered in salt like those delicious chips, or just crotchety, like a foul-mouthed skipper. You can't drink sea water because it's so salty — but it may be hard for you to eat certain foods when they're not salty enough. Colloquially, you can use this adjective to mean "down-to-earth," "aggressive," or "exciting." So for example you could describe a movie pirate who's tough and blunt-spoken as salty. The "exciting or provocative" meaning dates from the 1860s, from the sense of "giving life or strong flavor."
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.
See Examples For:
Some researchers say the warning signs are already visible: a strange patch of cooling in the North Atlantic and changes in how salty the water is.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
That is the feedback loop: the current helps keep the North Atlantic salty enough for the current to keep running.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Which is a shame, because olive juice isn’t just salty water.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
A couple of hours in the oven will draw out the maximum flavor of the tomatoes, bringing a sweet and salty umami-chew to the salad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
She felt the fine spray the boat threw back, inhaled the salty air, and looked out to a horizon made only of sky and water.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
Scientists wanted to determine how salinity affects ichthyocarbonate production, which is known to increase as fish adjust to saltier conditions through normal osmoregulation.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026
Or it could simply be more evidence that New Yorkers are saltier than average sports fans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2025
Utah’s Great Salt, another critical stopover, declined in 2022 to its lowest level on record, making the water saltier and more difficult for brine shrimp and flies to reproduce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025
One issue is that the saltier ice may melt more quickly in the summer.
From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2024
Comes out a little saltier than I intended, but whatever.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
Stewart did not refrain from expressing this opinion in the saltiest terms on-air, especially to Carlson, the show’s co-host who was cast as the overgrown college Republican with odious views and a polka dot bowtie.
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2026
The saltiest language — some of it referring to Heard — was silenced on Court TV, which is broadcasting the trial live.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2022
With that goal in mind, Pugh, Manda and Andrea Gibbs, the local agriculture agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension, convened at the edge of Pugh’s saltiest field on a recent blustery afternoon.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2019
Where are the saltiest parts of the oceans?
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
When the captain sent down Lieutenant Boggs for a supply of rations, Bill sent the saltiest, rankest bacon he could find, with a message that he wanted to see the great man.
From Christmas Eve on Lonesome and Other Stories by Yohn, F. C. (Frederick Coffay)
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.
