down-and-dirty
adjective
unscrupulous; nasty.
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down-and-dirty
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down and dirty
down and dirtyadjectiveruthlessly competitive or underhand
down-and-dirty
American
[doun-uhn-dur-tee]
/ ˈdaʊn ənˈdɜr ti /
adjective
Informal.
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unscrupulous; nasty.
a down-and-dirty election campaign.
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earthy; funky.
down and dirty
British
adjective
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ruthlessly competitive or underhand
if Bush gets down and dirty the Governor will give as good as he gets
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uninhibited; frank
down and dirty
Idioms
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Vicious, not governed by rules of decency, as in The candidates are getting down and dirty early in the campaign . [ Slang ; early 1980s]
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Very earthy, uninhibitedly sexual. For example, “L.A. club people rarely get down and dirty on a dance floor” ( The New Yorker , May 21, 1990). [Late 1980s]
Etymology
Origin of down-and-dirty
First recorded in 1985–90
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.
See Examples For:
“We like to go for a good mix of wild and crazy buildings but also down-and-dirty bridges,” Wolf said.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 23, 2022
But they did make it onto the stage, backed by a string quartet and tearing through the down-and-dirty riffs of their opening number, Smile.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2022
Like Cassel, these are actors who could have worked wonders with even a sliver more emotional development, even if it would have been ultimately antithetical to this movie’s down-and-dirty aims.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2020
In a phone interview from Los Angeles, he riffed about the down-and-dirty pleasures of “It’s Always Sunny,” Jersey love and how he’d like you to celebrate his special day.
From New York Times ● Aug. 31, 2018
Wood got involved in a down-and-dirty lawsuit with the Cooke capitalists.
From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Bruce Sterling
Siblings who had no problem splitting up houses and investment accounts can get down and dirty about photo albums.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 21, 2025
Kelly, who is also chair of the Democratic Governors' Association, said the party needed to improve its digital outreach, and for their strategy to become "down and dirty."
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2025
“As a scientist, you want the peer-reviewed publication with all of the down and dirty details.”
From Science Magazine ● May 19, 2022
When everything about the business says, “You’re not qualified, you’re not interesting, you’re not smart enough,” you need like-minded individuals who can get down and dirty with you.
From New York Times ● Apr. 21, 2022
The Palmetto players got down and dirty right away, and their fans cheered them on.
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
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.
