What does "dregs" mean?

The sediment settled at the bottom of a liquid; the lees in a container of unfiltered wine.

What is a synonym for "dregs"?

Common synonyms include: sludge, afterings, afterings, alluvion, alluvium, ash.

//dɹɛɡz// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Noun

1
The sediment settled at the bottom of a liquid; the lees in a container of unfiltered wine. plural, plural-normally
"For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full of mixture, and he powreth out of the same: but the dregges thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drinke them."
2
sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid wordnet
3
The worst and lowest part of something. figuratively, plural, plural-normally
"the dregs of society"

"For many people, drug dealers and corporate attorneys are the dregs of society."

See dreg.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.