Squalid (Adjective)
Meaning 1
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".
Classification
All adjective clusters.
Examples
- The charity workers were shocked by the squalid conditions in the refugee camp, where hundreds of people were forced to live in cramped and unsanitary tents.
- The run-down apartment complex had become notorious for its squalid hallways, which reeked of trash and mold, and its faulty elevators that rarely worked.
- As the poverty rate increased, more and more people were forced to live in squalid shantytowns on the outskirts of the city, where makeshift shelters offered little protection from the elements.
- After the natural disaster, the relief teams found many communities struggling with squalid living conditions, where the lack of access to clean water and sanitation led to widespread disease.
- In the worst part of town, squalid alleyways and rundown tenements dominated the landscape, giving off a pervasive sense of decay and neglect.
Synonyms
Related Words
Meaning 2
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".
Classification
All adjective clusters.
Examples
- The city's underbelly was a squalid world of crime and corruption that few tourists ever saw.
- The detective had spent years investigating the squalid lives of those who frequented the city's red-light district.
- The politician's squalid affair with his aide was just the tip of the iceberg in a scandal that would rock the nation.
- The novel exposed the squalid conditions in which many of the city's poor were forced to live, sparking widespread outrage.
- The tabloid's squalid reporting on the celebrity's personal life was widely criticized as an invasion of privacy.