sleaze

[ sleez ]

See synonyms for sleaze on Thesaurus.com

nounSlang.

a contemptible or vulgar person.
a shabby or slovenly person.

a sleazy quality, character, or atmosphere; shoddiness; vulgarity.
sleazy behavior, content, appearance, or the like.

Origin of sleaze

First recorded in 1950–55; back formation from sleazy

Words Nearby sleaze

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

How to use sleaze in a sentence

This poses a major problem for anti-corruption efforts, which too often shine light on sleaze and assume that voters will take it from there.
Why power attracts the wrong kind of people | Rachel Kleinfeld | November 19, 2021 | Washington Post
Yet for a vivid decade or so, sleaze was, somewhat paradoxically, a force for literacy and empowerment.
How Pulp Fiction Saved Literature | Wendy Smith | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
For most voters, internal party cohesion hardly seemed to be the most pressing issue amid a slew of sleaze allegations.
A Sleaze Civil War Engulfs Britain’s Liberal Democrats | Nico Hines | January 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The point is that sexual sleaze is more repellent when everyone can see it up close.
Don’t Leave the Mayor’s Race Yet, Anthony Weiner | Peter Beinart | July 26, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
But in the course of the campaign, Olmert the idealist would not be able to free himself from Olmert the sleaze.
The Man on a Mud-Stained Horse | Gershom Gorenberg | October 22, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST

God knows a sleaze-addicted media and public had to wait long enough.
Obama’s Sexy Scandals: Secret Service Colombian Hookers, GSA Vegas Trips | Michelle Cottle | April 18, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for sleaze

sleaze

/ (sliːz) /

nouninformal

sleaziness
dishonest, disreputable, or immoral behaviour, especially of public officials or employees: political sleaze

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

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