unclean
Americanadjective
-
not clean; dirty.
- Synonyms:
- filthy
-
morally impure; evil; vile.
unclean thoughts.
-
Chiefly Biblical. having a physical or moral blemish so as to make impure according to the laws, especially the dietary or ceremonial laws.
an unclean animal; unclean persons.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unclean
before 900; Middle English unclene, Old English unclǣne. See un- 1, clean
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.
See Examples For:
To be clear, the movie wasn’t what it claimed to be, but a bizarre blend of staged scenes and found footage, which only heightened its notoriety as an unclean object.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2026
A longstanding taboo in Chinese culture against used goods, seen as unclean or a shameful sign of poverty, is lifting rapidly.
From Barron's ● Mar. 4, 2026
The animal charity said the dogs were kept in unclean and overcrowded conditions, with little access to fresh water.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025
The left hand, considered unclean, is reserved for personal hygiene.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2025
Understand now, she was barely rated in the top twenty; her hair was uncombed, unclean; her age was just seventeen, so there was still, in occasional places, the remains of baby fat.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
Be not the emptiest meetest to receive gifts, and the uncleanest they that have most need of washing?”
From The White Rose of Langley A Story of the Olden Time by Emily Sarah Holt
Of all the unclean ones, Hamlet was the uncleanest.
From Twilight in Italy by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
In that short space of time he discovered that the galley was the dirtiest hole under the sun and the cook the uncleanest person that ever handled food.
From The Skipper's Wooing, and The Brown Man's Servant by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
There is little doubt but that milk is one of the uncleanest and impurest of all foods.
From No Animal Food and Nutrition and Diet with Vegetable Recipes by Rupert H. Wheldon
He was a guileless and indeed a holy man; and it's always the guileless and the holy people who raise the uncleanest scandals.
From The Belfry by May Sinclair
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.
