Hypertext Webster Gateway: "sordid"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Sordid \Sor"did\, a. [L. sordidus, fr. sordere to be filthy or
dirty; probably akin to E. swart: cf. F. sordide. See
{Swart}, a.]
1. Filthy; foul; dirty. [Obs.]
A sordid god; down from his hoary chin A length of
beard descends, uncombed, unclean. --Dryden.
2. Vile; base; gross; mean; as, vulgar, sordid mortals. ``To
scorn the sordid world.'' --Milton.
3. Meanly avaricious; covetous; niggardly.
He may be old, And yet sordid, who refuses gold.
--Sir J.
Denham.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
sordid
adj 1: morally degraded; "a seedy district"; "the seamy side of
life"; "sleazy characters hanging around casinos";
"sleazy storefronts with...dirt on the walls"- Seattle
Weekly; "the sordid details of his orgies stank under
his very nostrils"- James Joyce; "the squalid
atmosphere of intrigue and betrayal" [syn: {seamy}, {seedy},
{sleazy}, {squalid}]
2: unethical or dishonest; "dirty police officers"; "a sordid
political campaign" [syn: {dirty}]
3: foul and run-down and repulsive; "a flyblown bar on the edge
of town"; "a squalid overcrowded apartment in the poorest
part of town"; "squalid living conditions"; "sordid
shantytowns" [syn: {flyblown}, {squalid}]
4: meanly avaricious and mercenary; "sordid avarice"; "sordid
material interests"
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