grubby
pronunciation
How to pronounce grubby in British English:
UK [ˈgrʌbi]
How to pronounce grubby in American English:
US [ˈɡrʌbi]
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- Noun:
- small sculpin of the coast of New England
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- Adjective:
- thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
Word Origin
- grubby (adj.)
- "dirty," by 1845, from grub (n.) in a sense of "dirty child" (who presumably got that way from digging in earth) + -y (2). Earlier it was used in a sense of "stunted, dwarfish" (1610s) and "infested with grubs" (1725). Related: Grubbily; grubbiness.
Example
- 1. Their grubby success will make business look dirtier still .
- 2. But partnerships with grubby firms risk turning off its million-odd individual donors .
- 3. In parallel , though not necessarily in consequence , russia 's politics became increasingly grubby .
- 4. The overground , a once grubby railway that crosses the olympic site , has new infrastructure .
- 5. It has become axiomatic that central banks should be independent entities , insulated from the grubby machinations of politicians .