grungy
Americanadjective
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ugly, run-down, or dilapidated.
a grungy, abandoned mill town.
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dirty; filthy.
a pair of grungy sneakers.
adjective
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squalid or seedy
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(of pop music) characterized by a loud fuzzy guitar sound
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grungy
Explanation
Something grungy is very dirty, like the old sweatshirt that your dog dragged outside and used as a bed. Are your hands absolutely filthy after tinkering with the engine of your old car? Then they're grungy, so ingrained with dirt and oil that you'll have to scrub to get them clean. Dirty and sloppy things are grungy too, like the grungy outfit you wear when you spend the day taking care of your uncle's pet pigs. This informal American slang word is probably influenced by both dingy and grubby.
Vocabulary lists containing grungy
The Sea of Monsters
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The Battle of the Labyrinth
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Simon Sort of Says
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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.
"I think there's never been anything like this done in trad before… With the all-female, and the grungy look as well," she said.
From BBC • May 16, 2026
Their collection featured grungy lace looks and leather-heavy co-ords, leaning on a colour palette that was moody and dark.
From BBC • Feb. 20, 2026
Representing Gomez’s children, they evoke something closer to a parent’s reality: lovable kids, grungy and soiled.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2026
“Peter Hujar’s Day” and “Late Fame”: Two films I saw at this year’s festival concerned the grungy creative mystique of New York in the 1970s.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 15, 2025
The sound system alternately blared hip-hop and grungy emo rock as various DJs took turns pushing one another out of the way.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
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.
