Grimy

//ˈɡɹaɪmi// adj, slang

adj, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Stained or covered with grime.

    "Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,[…], and the light of the reflector fell full upon her."

  2. 2
    From the urban musical genre called grime.

    "Riffs from older songs seem to be more popular, as only two from the past decade made it into the top 20. They were Muse's Plug In Baby, at 11, and The White Stripes' grimy Seven Nation Army at 15."

  3. 3
    Morally corrupt, malicious, vile, or selfish; base or dirty; rotten. slang

    "When I was 18 I was grimy af. I wouldn't share my food with you even if you were starving and about to die."

  4. 4
    Of a beat or song, darkly atmospheric; having affinities with the style of the East Coast hip hop of the 90s, especially that of New York. slang

    "Pro Era are a group of young rappers (and artists) straight from the streets of Brooklyn, New York. They're headed by Joey Bada$$ who is definitely the most well known figure but as a group they stand alone as some of the top emcees and producers coming through. They've been hailed as the return of hip hop, especially the gritty, grimey New York hip hop we all know and love"

Adjective
  1. 1
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
begrimedbegrimedbesmirchedblotchydingydingy

Example

More examples

"A grimy fly can soil the entire wall and a small, dirty little act can ruin the entire proceedings."

Etymology

From grime + -y.

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