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
Derived Forms
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.
Crass as it may seem, you’ll want to get your hands on the payout sooner rather than later.
From Salon • Mar. 24, 2026
Artistic swimmers Ranjuo Tomblin - who on Thursday became Great Britain's first senior male artistic swimmer - and Beatrice Crass claimed their second medals of the Games with bronze in the mixed duet free competition.
From BBC • Jun. 24, 2023
The English effort had a message: Crass consumerism can’t improve your life.
From Washington Post • Mar. 21, 2017
For the politically minded and socially motivated punk, the collectivist principles of Crass, rather than the nihilism of the Sex Pistols, would reflect their actions.
From The Guardian • Mar. 17, 2017
Crass was worn away in front of each trunk but grew tall and untrodden in tile center of the triangle.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
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.
