crass
Americanadjective
-
without refinement, delicacy, or sensitivity; gross; obtuse; stupid.
crass commercialism; a crass misrepresentation of the facts.
- Synonyms:
- indelicate, oafish, boorish, dull
-
Archaic. thick; coarse.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- crassly adverb
- crassness noun
Etymology
Origin of crass
First recorded in 1535–45; from Middle French, from Latin crassus “fat, thick”
Explanation
A crass comment is very stupid and shows that the speaker doesn't care about other people's feelings. In today's day and age, you don't have to wear black to a funeral, but to show up in clown pants is simply crass. The source of this adjective is Latin crassus, "thick, dense, fat." A similar development of meaning can be seen in English dense in the sense of "stupid, slow to understand," from Latin densus, "thick, dense," and in English thick, which can also be used to mean "stupid."
Vocabulary lists containing crass
Flying Lessons & Other Stories
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The Cuckoo's Calling
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The Sound and the Fury
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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.
To many of the families of the dead, returning to Mystic is crass bordering on disrespectful.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026
If Hulu’s “Shoresy” is the poster child for successfully balancing raunch and heart, “Ted” is on the opposite end — crass and lazy.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 27, 2026
And there were occasions that I witnessed as an HR person of really crass and cruel behavior.
From Slate • Feb. 21, 2026
Funny and silly without being crass or gross.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 8, 2026
I have come to think of marriage as dishonorable, a crass trade-off rather than a free gift.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
