seamy side

Cultural  

1. The sordid, unattractive aspect of something: “Lying and stealing are part of the seamy side of life.”

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seamy side Idioms  

1. The sordid or base aspect of something, as in This nightclub certainly shows you the seamy side of the community. This term refers to the wrong side of a garment, revealing the stitched seams. Shakespeare used it figuratively in Othello (4:2): “That turn'd your wit the seamy side without.”

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Example Sentences

The book offers a powerful glimpse into the seamy side of 1970s rock 'n' roll, a time capsule-like rendering of a bygone age.

From Salon • May 7, 2022

Such belief in the virtue of the people emerges throughout these reports — an unexpected epilogue to their relentless documenting of the seamy side of American public life.

From Washington Post • Mar. 22, 2019

We'll have no more films that show the seamy side of American life.

From The Guardian • Feb. 23, 2013

The investigation takes the initially skeptical Rebus far from the seamy side of Edinburgh, his usual turf.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 24, 2013

I have seen enough of the seamy side of this much-boasted civilisation of ours to know that it is the most awful mockery that man ever insulted his Maker with.

From The Angel of the Revolution A Tale of the Coming Terror by Griffith, George Chetwynd