dirty
Not clean; having something like dust, mud, or grease on it.
Covered with or containing an unwanted substance such as dust, mud, or grease.
Talking about sex or rude things in a way that may offend people.
Containing or expressing sexual content or other material considered offensive or obscene.
Using bad or unfair ways to win or get something.
Involving dishonest, unfair, or illegal methods to achieve something.
To make something not clean by putting dirt or something like it on it.
To cause something to become unclean by adding dirt, dust, or another unwanted substance.
- Base: dirty
- Comparative: dirtier
- Superlative: dirtiest
- Base: dirty
- 3rd Person Singular: dirties
- Present Participle: dirtying
- Past: dirtied
do someone’s dirty work
1Do unpleasant tasks for someone else
To do an unpleasant or bad job for another person so they don't have to do it themselves.
- She always gets her assistant to do her dirty work.
- He refused to do the boss’s dirty work anymore.
get your hands dirty
1Do unpleasant practical work
To do hard, messy, or unpleasant work yourself instead of letting others do it.
- As a manager, he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty.
- Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to get the job done.
play dirty
1Act dishonestly to win
To use unfair or dishonest ways to win or get what you want.
- If you want to win against him, be prepared—he plays dirty.
- The company played dirty to beat its competitors.
dirty laundry
1embarrassing or private secrets
Private or shameful things about a person or family that they don’t want other people to know.
- The book reveals a lot of the family’s dirty laundry.
- He didn’t want their dirty laundry discussed in public.
dirty laundry
2Private embarrassing matters
Personal problems that you do not want other people to know about.
- They aired their dirty laundry in public during the meeting.
- Don't wash your dirty laundry in public; keep family issues private.