sleaze factor

Idioms  

1. The element in a political party, administration, or other organization that is corrupt, controversial, or tainted by scandal. For example, I can't see myself making a campaign contribution to them—there's too much of a sleaze factor. This slangy expression derives from the adjective sleazy, which means “vulgar” or “tawdry.” The idiom was first used in politics in the 1980s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sleaze factor

Another aide, Anji Hunter, had warned that the government was "losing moral authority by the second", thanks to the "sleaze" factor.

From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2021

Despite that sleaze factor, Minitel set the standard during the 1980s as the world's first truly practical and inexpensive provider of interactive services for a mass market.

From Time Magazine Archive

Micaela -- a character not found in Merimee's gritty original novella -- was her conventional, boring bourgeois self, and the reserved British performers did not really get the sleaze factor right.

From Time Magazine Archive

Lance, said a delighted Reagan campaign aide, "eliminates the sleaze factor for us."

From Time Magazine Archive

During the ensuing months, Meese became a cumbrous liability for the presidential campaign of George Bush and a living symbol of what Democrats like to call the "sleaze factor."

From Time Magazine Archive