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View synonyms for squalid

squalid

[ skwol-id, skwaw-lid ]

adjective

  1. foul and repulsive, as from lack of care or cleanliness; neglected and filthy.

    Synonyms: unclean

  2. wretched; miserable; degraded; sordid.


squalid

/ ˈskwɒlɪd; skwɒˈlɪdɪtɪ /

adjective

  1. dirty and repulsive, esp as a result of neglect or poverty
  2. sordid
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • squalidity, noun
  • ˈsqualidly, adverb
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Other Words From

  • squalid·ly adverb
  • squalid·ness squa·lid·i·ty [skwo-, lid, -i-tee], noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of squalid1

1585–95; < Latin squālidus dirty, equivalent to squāl ( ēre ) to be dirty, encrusted + -idus -id 4
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Word History and Origins

Origin of squalid1

C16: from Latin squālidus, from squālēre to be stiff with dirt
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Synonym Study

See dirty.
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Example Sentences

Waterborne diseases proliferated through streets of squalid, high-density tenements and poor sanitation.

In “Bag Man,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and journalist Michael Yarvitz have written a case study in how the democratic ideal of equal justice under the law collides with the squalid realities of America’s political system.

His actions were cruel and vicious—and also squalid and contemptible.

So Mandela was painfully slow in denouncing the squalid dictatorship of Robert Mugabe.

But the message belies the squalid reality of Sri Lanka under his rule.

Much of the communities swallowed by the expansion of the city and the construction of the Bois de Boulogne are squalid.

Thousands lost their homes and were resettled in squalid temporary camps.

Governor Street was just as dirty and squalid as any other tenement-house street in the poorer section of a middle-class city.

The squalid survivors, as if they were not sufficiently miserable, raged fiercely against one another.

Despite the squalid clothes of the peasants, there are many picturesque aspects of rural life.

I to seek such horrid places, I to haunt with squalid Negroes, blubber-lips, and monkey faces!

Staying hidden in that squalid room had made him wretched and homesick.

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