scummy
Americanadjective
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consisting of or having scum.
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Informal. despicable; contemptible.
That was a scummy trick.
adjective
-
of, resembling, consisting of, or covered with scum
-
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:
Now, the only way to get tickets is through resellers, which feels scummy at the very least.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2025
Of course that would be scummy, and it sounds like it must be fraud.
From Slate ● Dec. 6, 2022
Listen, spin docs: Quit rebranding pols who’ve acted scummy!
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2022
In “432 Park Avenue, Manhattan,” which depicts a supertall residential tower that may be more an investment storehouse than an actual home, a little scummy foam jiggles on the water’s surface.
From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2022
In the abandoned ornamental garden, Rahel, watched by lolling dwarfs and a forsaken cherub, squatted by the stagnant pond and watched toads hop from stone to scummy stone.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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 Sir Owen Seaman
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