rusty
adjective
covered with or affected by rust.
rusty
1 American
[ruhs-tee]
/ ˈrʌs ti /
adjective
rustier,
rustiest
-
covered with or affected by rust.
-
consisting of or produced by rust.
-
of or tending toward the color rust; rust-colored.
-
faded or shabby; impaired by time or wear, as clothes or drapery.
-
impaired through disuse or neglect.
My Latin is rusty.
-
having lost agility or alertness; out of practice.
I am a bit rusty at tennis.
-
(of a sound) grating or harsh.
rusty
2
American
[ruhs-tee]
/ ˈrʌs ti /
Rusty
3
American
[ruhs-tee]
/ ˈrʌs ti /
noun
rusty
British
/ ˈrʌstɪ /
adjective
-
covered with, affected by, or consisting of rust
a rusty machine
a rusty deposit
-
of the colour rust
-
discoloured by age
a rusty coat
-
(of the voice) tending to croak
-
old-fashioned in appearance; seemingly antiquated
a rusty old gentleman
-
out of practice; impaired in skill or knowledge by inaction or neglect
-
(of plants) affected by the rust fungus
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rusty1
First recorded before 900; Middle English rusti, Old English rūstig; see origin at rust, -y 1
Origin of rusty2
First recorded in 1555–65; apparently special use of rusty 1, but compare obsolete resty restive
Explanation
If your German is rusty, it's like the bike you left out in the rain too many times that turned brown and flakey on the metal parts. Like your bike, your German skills became rusty, meaning they're suffering from neglect. You can also describe yourself as rusty: you used to do flips on your skateboard, but you haven't practiced in a while and now you're a little rusty. Rusty can also refer to the color of rust, which is a reddish-brown — a rusty-colored dog, for instance. Anything made of iron or steel that you leave outside in the elements is likely to oxidize and become rusty, covered with rust.
Vocabulary lists containing rusty
Beowulf vocabulary
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Restaurant Critic Pete Wells' Yummy Words
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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.
Looking like a life jacket thrown into a car compactor, the work weaves a floppy beam of hazard-orange steel around and through a menacing conglomeration of rusty metal scraps.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Asked about which dinosaurs he’d hope to see in the movie, Choudhury lists off several that I have to look up, rusty from my years away from textbooks.
From Salon • Apr. 12, 2026
Today it is home to an empty airstrip and the rusty remains of buildings, vehicles and hundreds of fuel drums, nicknamed American flowers.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026
McIlroy, who said he was feeling "rusty" in round one after several days without picking up a club as he recovered from a back injury, said he "hit the ball better" in round two.
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
Strapped across the handlebars is a rusty shovel.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
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.
