slattern

[ slat-ern ]
See synonyms for slattern on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a slovenly, untidy woman or girl.

  2. a slut; harlot.

Origin of slattern

1
First recorded in 1630–40; perhaps akin to dial. slatter to splash, spill < ?

word story For slattern

See slut.

Words Nearby slattern

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use slattern in a sentence

  • It is true that Nanny was a slattern, but only because she married into slavery.

    A Window in Thrums | J. M. Barrie
  • The easy human slattern way would be to sink beneath the burden.

    I, Mary MacLane | Mary MacLane
  • "I would like to see Mr. Good," said Judith to the round-shouldered slattern who answered the bell.

    Thirty | Howard Vincent O'Brien
  • From day to day she sank nearer to the level of that abject, shameless creature whose dress drags in the gutter—a dirty slattern.

    Germinie Lacerteux | Edmond and Jules de Goncourt
  • I took a sort of hate against her, she was such a slattern and so inquisitive.

    A Book of Ghosts | Sabine Baring-Gould

British Dictionary definitions for slattern

slattern

/ (ˈslætən) /


noun
  1. a slovenly woman or girl; slut

Origin of slattern

1
C17: probably from slattering, from dialect slatter to slop; perhaps from Scandinavian; compare Old Norse sletta to slap

Derived forms of slattern

  • slatternly, adjective
  • slatternliness, noun

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