skanky
Americanadjective
-
(especially of a woman) sexually promiscuous or lewd.
-
dirty, repulsive, or immoral: There are a lot of skanky businesses that take advantage of innocent consumers.
They live in a skanky part of town, surrounded by condemned buildings.
There are a lot of skanky businesses that take advantage of innocent consumers.
adjective
-
dirty, foul-smelling, or unattractive
-
promiscuous
Other Word Forms
- skankiness noun
Etymology
Origin of skanky
First recorded in 1980–85; skank ( def. ) + -y 2 ( def. )
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 No. 1 need, many say: Clean up the “Coney water,” the local name for the skanky H2O that sometimes bubbles up from underground right into people’s basements.
From Washington Post • Jun. 16, 2021
The OED editors offer the comparison to skanky, which means unattractive or offensive, as well as janky, which refers to something that is untrustworthy or of poor quality.
From Time • Jun. 24, 2015
There's Tim Burton as a skanky Santa and model Xiao Wen with a huge insect on her open mouth.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 13, 2012
Should we assume from her nonappearance that King feared retribution from the Bush dynasty, or is the easier explanation that his producers thought it was a skanky book?
From Slate • Apr. 12, 2010
Just Fang, hunched up alone in his skanky basement.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.
