- present participle of disgust.
disgusting
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disgusting
Explanation
Something disgusting is awful in a way that makes you want to throw up — it's really, really yucky. Nobody likes disgusting things. Stepping in dog poo is disgusting — in other words, revolting and gross. Some people think spiders are disgusting; others find meatloaf disgusting; it just depends on what your tastes and tolerances are. If a politician is caught taking bribes, people say "That behavior is disgusting!" If your favorite team loses 20 games in a row, that might seem disgusting. Pretty much anything horrible, terrible, or nasty can be called disgusting.
Vocabulary lists containing disgusting
Ugh! Synonyms for "Gross"
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Ugh! Synonyms for "Gross"
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So Bad: Synonyms for "Awful"
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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.
It’s an unabashedly disgusting R-rated horror entry that plays with a longstanding suspicion of mine: There’s something scary about Method actors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
Vance said he was “disgusted”—not by the disgusting ad, but by the Republicans who criticized it and who should instead “stop whining.”
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2026
In an open letter to The Columbus Dispatch newspaper, the city's former mayor Michael Coleman called the ad "the most vile, disgusting and lowest point I have ever seen in 35 years of political engagement."
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
It’s Hurts’ turn to receive some of that same criticism, I suppose, but what fuels it is especially disgusting.
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026
It resembled a chunky, disgusting milk shake at this point.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
