grunge

[ gruhnj ]

/ grʌndʒ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR grunge ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Slang.

dirt; filth; rubbish.

something of inferior quality; trash: He didn't know good music from grunge.

a person who works hard, usually for meager rewards; grind.

a style or fashion derived from a movement in rock music: in fashion characterized by unkempt clothing and in music by aggressive, nihilistic songs.

Nearby words

Origin of grunge

1960–65; expressive coinage, perhaps reflecting grime and sludge; sense “grind” perhaps by association with drudge

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for grunge

Grunge makes sense if you're a sad, self-righteous teenager.
Remembering Weezer’s ‘The Blue Album,’ A Garage Rock Classic, on Its 20th Anniversary|Andrew Romano|May 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Seriously—go raid your dusty CaseLogic archives and listen to a bunch of early, non-Nirvana grunge CDs sometime.
Remembering Weezer’s ‘The Blue Album,’ A Garage Rock Classic, on Its 20th Anniversary|Andrew Romano|May 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The fascinating tragedy of Flappy Bird might go down in history as a defining “grunge moment” for videogames.
Addiction & Fame: How Flappy Bird is the App Store’s Grunge Moment|Leigh Alexander|February 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There was the grunge trend, of course, and the mainstreaming of hip-hop gear.
Finally! ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ Is Hollywood’s First 1990s Period Piece|Andrew Romano|December 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Looking back, I feel like there was something really magical about that whole period: Generation X, Grunge, slackers.
Winona Ryder Dishes on ‘Homefront,’ ‘Beetlejuice 2,’ and Generation X|Andrew Romano|November 27, 2013|DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for grunge

grunge

/ (ɡrʌndʒ) /

noun

US slang dirt or rubbish

a style of rock music originating in the US in the late 1980s, featuring a distorted guitar sound

a deliberately untidy and uncoordinated fashion style

Word Origin for grunge

C20: possibly a coinage imitating grime + sludge

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for grunge

grunge

"sloppiness," also "untidy person," 1965, American English teen slang, probably a back-formation from grungy. The music and fashion style that originated in Seattle is attested from the early 1990s.