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Synonyms

seedy

American  
[see-dee] / ˈsi di /

adjective

seedier, seediest

  1. abounding in seed.

  2. containing many seeds, as a piece of fruit.

  3. gone to seed; bearing seeds.

  4. poorly kept; run-down; shabby.

  5. shabbily dressed; unkempt.

    a seedy old tramp.

  6. physically run-down; under the weather.

    He felt a bit seedy after his operation.

  7. somewhat disreputable; degraded.

    a seedy hotel.
seedy British  
/ ˈsiːdɪ /

adjective

  1. shabby or unseemly in appearance

    seedy clothes

  2. (of a plant) at the stage of producing seeds

  3. informal not physically fit; sickly

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • seedily adverb
  • seediness noun

Etymology

Origin of seedy

First recorded in 1565–75; seed + -y 1

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.

The full force of Lawrence Sher’s cinematography, Karen Murphy’s production design and Hildur Guðnadóttir’s orchestral score is fabulous, combining to make something seedy, moody and extravagant.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 4, 2026

By calling his museum’s large theater the Moral Lecture Room, he hoped to distance his venue from the seedy theaters of the time.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 25, 2026

He drank tall glasses of orange juice in seedy dives as he infiltrated an underworld of bank-robbing clowns and bird-obsessed mobsters.

From Salon • Jan. 23, 2026

However, Paperny explained that Combs may well struggle to secure a buyer who was willing to pay the $61.5 million asking price—particularly given the property’s seedy connection to the rapper’s trial.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 5, 2026

Most of them needed a haircut and they wore seedy gray nightshirts slit down the back.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

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.