slob
Americannoun
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a slovenly or boorish person.
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Irish English. mud or ooze, especially a stretch of mud along a shore.
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Chiefly Canadian. sludge.
noun
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informal a slovenly, unattractive, and lazy person
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mire
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of slob
1770–80; < Irish slab ( a ) mud, mire
Explanation
A slob is someone who's messy or lazy. Tuck your shirt in and wash the dishes, you slob! You may think of your sister as a slob if she never cleans up after herself, leaving crumbs all over the house and clothes all over her room. It's a derogatory term, though, so think twice before you call her a slob out loud. An earlier meaning of the word was "muddy land," from the Irish slab, or "mud." The 1860s expression "slob of a man" led to the current definition of slob.
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.
She’s not a slob or loser; she’s a writer.
From Washington Post • Feb. 14, 2023
She stars as Gracie Hart, a socially awkward F.B.I. field agent and unapologetic slob who finds herself unexpectedly glammed-up for a dangerous undercover assignment at a high-profile beauty pageant.
From New York Times • Sep. 27, 2022
More recently, cartoonist Scott Adams satirized the attitude in a 1990s Dilbert comic strip that depicted office slob Wally taking an “in-cubicle sabbatical.”
From Washington Times • Sep. 12, 2022
I'm not a slob, but I am a maximalist, and my whole life, I have felt deep shame about it.
From Salon • May 25, 2022
When slob started flying out of my mouth they let me stop and I wobbled around for a while before they pushed me back in the same snowbank.
From "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
