sordid

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈsɔrdɪd/ UK /ˈsɔːdɪd/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
morally degraded, dishonorable, or squalidly dirty

The newspaper exposed the sordid details of the scandal.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · morally degraded,... squalid dirty filthy wretched base ignoble mean vile

Opposites

noble honorable pure wholesome respectable

Word family

Forms sordidlysordidness

Derived forms sordidlysordidness

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

sordid avarice
greed for wealth that is mean and morally disreputable

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Latin sordidus ('dirty, filthy, mean, base'), from sordēs ('dirt, filth'), from sordēre ('to be dirty'), related to Proto-Indo-European *swordo- ('black, dirty').

sordidus Latin sordēs Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# sordid

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɔrdɪd/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɔːdɪd/

## Meanings
1. morally degraded, dishonorable, or squalidly dirty

## Examples
- The newspaper exposed the sordid details of the scandal.

## Synonyms
- squalid
- dirty
- filthy
- wretched
- base
- ignoble
- mean
- vile

## Antonyms
- noble
- honorable
- pure
- wholesome
- respectable

## Derived Forms
- sordidly
- sordidness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sordidus
- Root: sordēs

## Etymology
From Latin sordidus ('dirty, filthy, mean, base'), from sordēs ('dirt, filth'), from sordēre ('to be dirty'), related to Proto-Indo-European *swordo- ('black, dirty').

## AI Etymology
Sordid comes from Latin sordidus ('dirty, filthy, mean, base'), from sordēs ('dirt, filth'), from sordēre ('to be dirty'), related to Proto-Indo-European *swordo- ('black, dirty'). The historical chain includes Latin sordidus and Latin sordēs. Older glosses in the chain include "dirty, filthy, mean, base", "dirt, filth", "to be dirty", and "black, dirty", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, sordid is best read as borrowing, yielding an English adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as an adjective, with the sense "morally degraded, dishonorable, or squalidly dirty". English derivatives include sordidly and sordidness. The result is an English adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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