Unclean

//ʌnˈkliːn// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Dirty, soiled or foul.

    "They were gnawing, like beasts, upon unclean food. A pot boiled upon the edge of the fire, and out of it one of the creatures would occasionally drag a hunk of meat with a sharpened stick."

  2. 2
    Not moral or chaste.

    "I stand amazed in the presence / Of Jesus, the Nazarene, / And wonder how He could love me, / A sinner, condemend, unclean."

  3. 3
    Ritually or ceremonially impure or unfit.
Adjective
  1. 1
    soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime wordnet
  2. 2
    having a physical or moral blemish so as to make impure according to dietary or ceremonial laws wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dirtynonkosherabominableadamicarrantatrocious

Example

More examples

"When a man reproached him for going into unclean places, he said, "The sun too penetrates into privies, but is not polluted by them.""

Etymology

From Middle English unclene, from Old English unclǣne, equivalent to un- + clean.

Related phrases

unclean hands

More for "unclean"

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