squalid
Americanadjective
-
foul and repulsive, as from lack of care or cleanliness; neglected and filthy.
- Synonyms:
- unclean
-
wretched; miserable; degraded; sordid.
adjective
-
dirty and repulsive, esp as a result of neglect or poverty
-
sordid
Related Words
See dirty.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of squalid
1585–95; < Latin squālidus dirty, equivalent to squāl ( ēre ) to be dirty, encrusted + -idus -id 4
Explanation
Squalid things appear neglected, or morally repulsive in nature, like a frat house after a semester of hard partying and zero cleanup. Squalid comes from the Latin word squalere, meaning to “be covered with a rough, scaly layer.” A few word evolutions later and we have squalid, a word that describes something distasteful, dirty, unattractive, and as unkempt in appearance as the dry, scaly skin of an armadillo, or a room filled with pizza boxes, flickering light bulbs, and stained wallpaper. Squalid behavior is dirty, too, like cheating on a test and lying about it.
Vocabulary lists containing squalid
Refugee
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The Kite Runner
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100 SAT words Beginning with "S"
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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.
Squalid conditions in Cox's Bazar have also made them vulnerable to disasters, like massive fires and typhoons.
From BBC • Aug. 24, 2023
Squalid camps of asylum seekers sprouted on the banks of the Rio Grande.
From Washington Post • Oct. 31, 2020
Squalid, vicious, mean and stupid, Pinter's characters may seem to deserve all the bad things in life.
From Time Magazine Archive
Even when Vincennes opened in 1970, the campus was Sixties Squalid.
From Time Magazine Archive
Squalid refugee camps were crowded with displaced villagers.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
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.
