grimy
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of grimy
Explanation
Grimy things are so dirty that it takes some scrubbing to clean them. You'll probably feel pretty grimy after a day spent trying to fix the engine of an old car. When something is grimy, the dirt is ingrained or set in, not just on the surface. Jobs that leave you covered in oil, tar, or dirt are grimy. If you wear gloves to transplant your grandma's flowers, you won't end up with grimy fingernails. The adjective grimy comes from grime, "ingrained dirt," which goes back to a root that means "to smear."
Vocabulary lists containing grimy
The Sea of Monsters
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The Battle of the Labyrinth
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My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Grimy barracks and muggy Florida weather were replaced by clear skies and new facilities.
From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2024
Mayoral Candidates Recall the Days of Tiny, Grimy and Cheap One apartment did not have space for a bed.
From New York Times • Sep. 9, 2013
Tom Cipullo marshals the four singers for a blunt comic piece about the depredations of one route in “G Is for Grimy: An Ode to the G Train.”
From New York Times • Jan. 15, 2012
Grimy and tired the 30 travelers arrived in St. Louis just in time to get into their evening clothes, enter the National Intercollegiate Glee Club finals.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Everyone! Especially folksingers and third-grade teachers. Grimy undergraduates and grammar school children are always chanting it like sorcerers.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
