grunge
Americannoun
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dirt; filth; rubbish.
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something of inferior quality; trash.
He didn't know good music from grunge.
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a person who works hard, usually for meager rewards; grind.
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a style or fashion derived from a movement in rock music: in fashion characterized by unkempt clothing and in music by aggressive, nihilistic songs.
noun
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slang dirt or rubbish
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a style of rock music originating in the US in the late 1980s, featuring a distorted guitar sound
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a deliberately untidy and uncoordinated fashion style
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of grunge
1960–65; expressive coinage, perhaps reflecting grime and sludge; sense “grind” perhaps by association with drudge
Explanation
Grunge is a grimy, sooty, or otherwise dirty state. The grunge of a rented cabin might have you re-thinking your plans to camp there all weekend. You may romanticize the idea of working on cars at a garage, including the grunge under your fingernails. Grunge is dirt and grime, or the condition of being covered in it. In the mid-1980s, the word was loaned to a new kind of underground music, and the style and culture surrounding it. Mark Arm, the lead singer for a Seattle band, is usually credited with coining this meaning of grunge when he wrote in a 1981 zine, "Pure grunge! Pure noise!"
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:
While the idea of pretty-in-pink Elle Woods being thrown into the grunge of 90s Seattle is "cute enough on paper", in reality it feels "thin and forced", wrote the Wrap's Marah Eakin, external.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
It’s as if a bubbly Jonas Brothers single got infected by a toxic cloud of grunge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Without even seeing a single garment, his style is clear: avant-garde, grunge and very rock ’n’ roll.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
Vaguely grunge in vibe, the track overtly recalls second feminism’s suspicion of feminine adornment.
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2026
I dress like I’m in a grunge band and wear distressed jeans and Nirvana or Pearl Jam band shirts, and I always rock a flannel.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
No matter how much Stewart grunges herself up for the part, it would be hard not to think, hey, there's Bella from Twilight with greasy hair and torn cuticles.
From Newsweek ● Feb. 18, 2010
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.
