scummy
Americanadjective
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consisting of or having scum.
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Informal. despicable; contemptible.
That was a scummy trick.
adjective
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of, resembling, consisting of, or covered with scum
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dirty, unpleasant, or nasty
Etymology
Origin of scummy
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:
“Bunny” This East Village indie by debut director Ben Jacobson is a scummy gem.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025
And there are bad, scummy, volatile meme stocks like Bed Bath & Beyond.
From Slate ● May 13, 2024
Listen, spin docs: Quit rebranding pols who’ve acted scummy!
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2022
NVHAP, a risk for virtually all hospital patients, is often caused by bacteria from the mouth that gathers in the scummy biofilm on unbrushed teeth and is aspirated into the lungs.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2022
The oily, scummy water lay still in front of them, an occasional ripple breaking languidly on the pebbles.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
It was a macho thing: 'My contact is scummier than your contact.'
From Reuters ● Jul. 16, 2011
Then, Gillen sets them to scheming against each other in the scummiest corners of the Star Wars universe.
From Slate ● Apr. 12, 2019
In San Francisco, “you could be the scummiest person, you could be a doctor. You can be whatever you want to be. This city gives you all the skills to do it.”
From The Guardian ● Oct. 9, 2017
Dish towels are some of the scummiest things in your kitchen.
From Time ● Jul. 14, 2017
Stocky paparazzi, wearing the same cargo-shorts-black-logo-tee uniform they wear on the scummiest corners of Hollywood Boulevard, lug their gear down the sidewalk in search of that perfect shot to sell to an Italian tabloid.
From The Verge ● May 15, 2015
Since then, as often as he has time, he goes to bathe in the scummiest parts, and then comes and tells me all about it with any amount of circumstantial evidence.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, April 15, 1914 by Seaman, Owen, Sir
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.
