dirty work

American  

noun

1. disagreeable, often tedious tasks.

2. any illegal or dishonest dealing.

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dirty work Idioms  

1. An unpleasant, distasteful, or thankless task or job. For example, Jane complained that she had to do all the dirty work while her colleagues took long vacations. [First half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

Some of that dirty work, however, is moving to Europe as Mr. Orbán looks to make Hungary an EV hub and Asian battery manufacturers move production abroad to offset tariff risks.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

Instead, it’s better to humor him by pursuing it and letting some element of the legal system—a judge, a grand jury—do the dirty work of keeping the rule of law at least somewhat intact.

From Slate • Feb. 14, 2026

Cybersecurity experts are warning that artificial intelligence agents, widely considered the next frontier in the generative AI revolution, could wind up getting hijacked and doing the dirty work for hackers.

From Barron's • Nov. 11, 2025

Ekitike's contribution deserves a deeper look because he is a tireless nuisance to opposition defences, willing to do the dirty work as well as grab the goalscoring glory.

From BBC • Sep. 20, 2025

Royal had read of the man’s exploits in the newspaper—lawyer, abolitionist crusader, bane of slavers and those who did their dirty work.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead