sleazy
Americanadjective
-
sleazier,
comparative
-
sleaziest
superlative
-
contemptibly low, mean, or disreputable.
sleazy politics.
-
squalid; sordid; filthy; dilapidated.
a sleazy hotel.
-
thin or poor in texture, as a fabric; cheap; flimsy.
a sleazy dress;
a sleazy excuse.
adjective
-
sordid; disreputable
a sleazy nightclub
-
thin or flimsy, as cloth
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sleazy
First recorded in 1635–45 sleazy for def. 3; of obscure origin; probably unrelated to Silesia; first recorded in 1941 sleazy for defs. 1, 2; perhaps a distinct word
Explanation
Something that is sleazy is low and nasty. It’s a perfect word to describe characters like the sleazy door-to-door con men who cheat old ladies into selling them their jewelry at a deep discount. Sleazy originally meant flimsy, but nowadays it’s only used to describe morally degraded people or places. Usually it refers to sexual behavior, but it is often associated with people trying to swindle others as well. It’s not as bad as perverse or criminal, which suggest that a line has been crossed. But sleazy people make you feel uncomfortable, for sure.
Vocabulary lists containing sleazy
Stargirl
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Speak
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Just Mercy
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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.
See Examples For:
The pen is a classic synecdoche, standing in for Paxton’s entire lifetime of sleazy behavior.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
The Kiwi actor adds that he suspects many viewers will make up their minds about Steve before they've even watched the series and "assume he's a sleazy guy".
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Sports bettors losing money shouldn’t be surprising—where else would you expect sportsbook profits to come from?—but the manner of our collective losses seems both sleazy and unsustainable.
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
Among the other supporting roles, the most challenging to cast, the team agrees, was that of Euclides, the sleazy police chief.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
He’d be handsome, if he weren’t so sleazy.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
The original is supposed to be from 1979 — post-“Halloween,” pre-“Friday the 13th” — so it has a grainier look, sleazier thrills and a fuller plot.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2023
And Tucci, playing a sleazier Tony Stark, is forever spuming the orders and insults of an undersize bully.
From Time ● Jun. 26, 2014
That made Kasem a fixture on news outlets that feed on the sleazier side of celebrity life at a time when it wasn’t clear he was aware of it or even able to understand.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 16, 2014
"Society's first reaction is that bankers are a bunch of sleaze balls, and this makes them look even sleazier."
From The Guardian ● Mar. 20, 2013
I mean, it’s harder to get sleazier than that outside a boiler room.
From New York Times ● Jul. 17, 2010
Yet one doesn’t need an AI bot to explain why Grammarly’s stunt has to rank among the sleaziest misuses of AI technology yet to appear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
His screen persona has often been the sleaziest of weasels, the connoisseur’s moral degenerate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
But of course this scandal touches on something deeper than garden-variety profiteering, even of the sleaziest sort.
From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2020
Altuve may both be the saddest and sleaziest figure in his team’s crime against baseball.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 25, 2020
It's the sleaziest, cheapest, most run-down tenement in one hemisphere, but I love it.
From Starman's Quest by Stan Mack
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.
