Grotty

adj, slang

adj, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Unpleasant, dirty, slovenly or offensive. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang

    "George: I wouldn't be seen dead in them. They're dead grotty. Simon: Grotty? George: Yeah, grotesque."

  2. 2
    Alternative form of groaty. alt-of, alternative
Adjective
  1. 1
    very unpleasant or offensive wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
badbedraggledclartydirtydisgustingdisgusting

Example

More examples

"George: I wouldn't be seen dead in them. They're dead grotty. Simon: Grotty? George: Yeah, grotesque."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Clipping of grotesque + -y. Piecewise doublet of grody, the American equivalent. Compare Middle English groti, grooti (“slimy, muddy”), from Old English grotiġ (“earthy, dirty”) (modern dialectal English groaty, Scots grotty), which is equivalent to groat + -y. Compare also Scottish Gaelic grod (“rotten, lousy, terrible”), Middle Irish grot (“bitter, sour”). Originated or popularised by the 1964 film A Hard Day's Night, starring the Beatles and written by Alun Owen.

Etymology 2

See groaty.

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