rusty

¹ American  

[ruhs-tee] / ˈrʌs ti /

adjective

rustier, rustiest

1. covered with or affected by rust.

2. consisting of or produced by rust.

3. of or tending toward the color rust; rust-colored.

4. faded or shabby; impaired by time or wear, as clothes or drapery.

5. impaired through disuse or neglect.

   My Latin is rusty.

6. having lost agility or alertness; out of practice.

   I am a bit rusty at tennis.

7. (of a sound) grating or harsh.

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rusty ² American  

[ruhs-tee] / ˈrʌs ti /

adjective

rustier, rustiest

1. restive; stubborn.

   a rusty horse.

2. Chiefly Dialect. ill-tempered; cross.

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Rusty ³ American  

[ruhs-tee] / ˈrʌs ti /

noun

1. a male or female given name.

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rusty British  

/ ˈrʌstɪ /

adjective

1. covered with, affected by, or consisting of rust

   a rusty machine

   a rusty deposit

2. of the colour rust

3. discoloured by age

   a rusty coat

4. (of the voice) tending to croak

5. old-fashioned in appearance; seemingly antiquated

   a rusty old gentleman

6. out of practice; impaired in skill or knowledge by inaction or neglect

7. (of plants) affected by the rust fungus

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Other Word Forms

• rustily adverb
• rustiness noun

Etymology

Origin of rusty¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English rusti, Old English rūstig; 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.

Example Sentences

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

The men also averaged a tick over five goals a game in the preliminary round plus looked a little rusty doing it.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2026

"Maybe we're a little rusty," Kermit muses at one point.

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026

We cleaned the wood, pulling out rusty nails and rubbing the boards together to smooth out the splinters.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez