back-alley

[bak-al-ee]

adjective

1. dirty, unprepossessing, sordid, or clandestine.

   back-alley morals; back-alley political schemes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of back-alley¹

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65

Idioms and Phrases

see under back street.

Example Sentences

In 1993, she and Mary Chapin Carpenter wrote the haunting “Sally’s Pigeons” about a childhood friend of Lauper’s who died as a teenager after getting a back-alley abortion.

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I knew that the pre-Roe era was one of dangerous back-alley abortions, but I also knew that was just one part of the story.

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On this Sunday morning, she, Winslet and Erivo sit with Demi Moore, who undergoes a dramatic physical transformation after receiving a back-alley rejuvenation treatment in “The Substance”; Zoe Saldaña, returning to singing and dancing as a lawyer protecting a Mexican cartel leader in the Spanish-language musical “Emilia Perez”; and Saoirse Ronan, starring as a young woman grappling with her sobriety in remote Scotland in “The Outrun” and as a British mother searching for her lost son during the Nazi bombing of London during World War II in “The Blitz.”

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But there’s a real passion for the movie and Moore’s turn as Elisabeth Sparkle, a faded star who submits to a back-alley rejuvenation regime to reset her career.

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Moore earned enthusiastic praise for her turn as Elisabeth Sparkle, a faded star who submits to a back-alley rejuvenation regime to reset her career.

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Related Words

• avenue 
• boulevard 
• court 
• highway 
• lane 
• pavement 
• place 
• road 
• roadway 
• route 
• thoroughfare 
• track 
• trail