rusty
adjective
covered with or affected by rust.
rusty
1 American
[ruhs-tee]
/ ˈrʌs ti /
adjective
-
rustier,
comparative
-
rustiest
superlative
-
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
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.
See Examples For:
And so Steiner did, his voice sounding raspy and rusty in the early innings but getting stronger with each successive inning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
The shadowed portion could also develop a rusty or copper colored tint.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
A hedgehog that spent at least four days stuck in a rusty underground drain pipe in Fife has been rescued with the help of some cooking oil and a large pair of pliers.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
The proverbial wheels of justice grind at an almost unbelievably rusty pace, leaving Nick facing the prospect of imminent death for 22 years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
“What if I’m so rusty they get up and leave?” she asked.
From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry
“Every endorsement we make is earned, not given,” California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks said in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
Fellow fan Rusty Carbaug, a pilot in her 30s who dropped by the Garden to wish Swift well, donned a Kansas-themed T-shirt in honour of Kelce, who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
Maria hopes people seeing Rusty will invite conversations about mental health.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
Maria says she now receives Christmas cards for Rusty and people from all walks of life stop to see him.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
And it felt good to ride fast and hard again, leaving the ghosts of the Rusty Ruins behind.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
The tall flowers shot up out of spiky, gray-green leaves and were brilliant against darker, rustier tones in the yards.
From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2023
BEREA, Ohio — Deshaun Watson felt the crowd’s anger while juggling his own nerves and emotions in a return that was rustier than expected last week.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2022
My own feed—I lived in San Francisco before moving to Cleveland—had the vapors, offering up rustier alternatives—just move to the Midwest!—as morally and fiscally superior and doubling down on the fetishization of cheap real estate.
From Slate ● Mar. 7, 2018
“It’s like the more off days you have, the rustier you get,” he said.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 3, 2015
Just an old hammer and a few rusted tin cans holding some even rustier nails.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
She’s a photographer named Alyssha Eve Csuk, and she grew up in the Rust Belt, beside the rustiest spot in America.
From Slate ● Mar. 10, 2015
And thus, perhaps the rustiest of the Rust Belt cities has a reason to go wild, writes Yahoo.com’s Les Carpenter.
From New York Times ● Sep. 26, 2011
With few exceptions, the critical essays that make up most of The Vonnegut Statement are founded on the rustiest claptrap in literary exegesis.
From Time Magazine Archive
She sorted through them carefully, and selected the oldest, biggest, blackest, rustiest key.They went into the drawing room.
From "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman
Mrs. Brown was a bony woman of sixty, dressed in the rustiest black, and carrying a handbag made, apparently, from the hide of the original animal that Adam decided to call an alligator.
From Roads of Destiny by O. Henry
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.
