filth
Americannoun
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offensive or disgusting dirt or refuse; foul matter.
the filth dumped into our rivers.
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foul condition.
to live in filth.
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moral impurity, corruption, or obscenity.
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vulgar or obscene language or thought.
noun
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foul or disgusting dirt; refuse
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extreme physical or moral uncleanliness; pollution
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vulgarity or obscenity, as in language
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derogatory the police
Etymology
Origin of filth
before 1000; Middle English; Old English fȳlth. See foul, -th 1
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 a matter of washing off the filth—with unnatural chemicals, at that—versus never picking up the filth in the first place.
From Slate • Feb. 13, 2026
"We're literally living in filth," said Rakotondrina on a tour permeated by the powerful stench of urine.
From Barron's • Oct. 17, 2025
As one sketch duo who appeared on The James Whale Radio Show half-joked, the programme was known for its "controversy, filth and degradation - and that's just behind the scenes".
From BBC • Aug. 4, 2025
Having lost everything, they suffer filth, hunger and disease during a months-long voyage to uncertainty.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 8, 2025
Same food—thin soup, bad bread—same rules, same lice, same filth.
From "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps" by Andrea Warren
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.
