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.
Maybe L.A. voters took pity on visitors to their grungy city who are required to pay a surcharge merely to hail an Uber from Los Angeles International Airport.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 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
Over grungy guitars and a slapping drum beat, Taylor taunts them with a touch of reverse psychology.
From BBC • Oct. 3, 2025
There was this beautiful, really fun, cheap, grungy rehearsal studio in Culver City called Exposition Studios.
From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2025
He entered the house wearing a grungy white T-shirt and gray slacks with red-and-blue suspenders, though his pants didn’t seem to be at any risk of sliding off.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
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.
