grubby

¹ American  

[gruhb-ee] / ˈgrʌb i /

adjective

grubbier, grubbiest

1. dirty; slovenly.

   children with grubby faces and sad eyes.

   Synonyms:

   bedraggled, filthy, messy, unkempt, grimy

2. infested with or affected by grubs or larvae.

3. contemptible.

   grubby political tricks.

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grubby ² American  

[gruhb-ee] / ˈgrʌb i /

noun

• grubbies
  plural

1. a small sculpin, Myxocephalus aenaeus, inhabiting waters off the coast of New England.

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grubby British  

/ ˈɡrʌbɪ /

adjective

1. dirty; slovenly

2. mean; beggarly

3. infested with grubs

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• grubbiness
  noun
• grubbily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• grubbies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of grubby¹

First recorded in 1605–15; grub + -y ¹

Origin of grubby²

Origin uncertain

Explanation

Grubby things are really dirty, like your little sister's grubby hands after she's spent an afternoon making mud pies. Have you ever seen a little kid eat a chocolate ice cream cone on a hot day? Picture the kid's face covered in chocolate and you'll have a good idea of what grubby means! This adjective dates back to the mid-19th century, from grub, which means "insect larva" and which was once colloquially used to mean "dirty child."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grubby grubbier grubbiest

Alice Lockey is lady’s maid to the earl’s daughter, the spoiled, indolent and surprisingly grubby Lady Jemima Alderwick.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

He said he had been "easily bought" and "accepted the job as you had accepted other grubby little tasks".

From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026

Print and cinema’s strings are being pulled by the grubby, greedy hands of executives who care far more about money and expediency than art and process.

From Salon ● May 1, 2026

I understand every grubby, rotten impulse of the bereaved.

From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2026

Now her grubby soles met like they were praying.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

As the name suggests, From The Pyre is darker, grubbier, more gothically grandiose than their critically acclaimed debut, Prelude To Ecstasy.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2025

After picking up trash on Earth Day, I suggest a grubbier summation: We are what we toss.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 30, 2023

By the early 1960s, the crowds were seedier, the clubs grubbier and the production all but gone.

From New York Times ● Jun. 29, 2022

But then she talks about the rewards of being a bus driver, especially with those riders whose appearance is grubbier than others’.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 4, 2020

It could hardly have been grubbier if he had first rubbed his hands in the earth, and then had a good cry, and then dried his face with his hands.

From "The Magician's Nephew" by C. S. Lewis

His passion for theater, from its grubbiest particulars to its headiest heights, is the thread that binds together a slightly miscellaneous collection.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2021

The final reason practical effects are hip again is the grubbiest: they’re a piece of the swag we call “fan service.”

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 20, 2016

Sean Ingle dons his grubbiest Columbo mac to investigate.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 1, 2010

The theater at Stratford, Conn., offers what it likes to call the American Shakespeare Festival, but it is the grubbiest of cultural snack bars.

From Time Magazine Archive

I remember him as the grubbiest little wretch that ever disgraced Harrow.

From Simon the Jester by William John Locke

Related Words

• filthy
• grimy
• grungy
• messy
• seedy
• shabby
• soiled
• squalid
• unkempt