different between degraded vs sordid

English

Etymology

See degrade and compare French degré (“step”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d????e?d?d/

Adjective

degraded (comparative more degraded, superlative most degraded)

1. Feeling or having undergone degradation; deprived of dignity or self-respect.

   • The Netherlands […] were reduced, practically, to a very degraded condition.

2. (biology) Having the typical characters or organs in a partially developed condition, or lacking certain parts.
   • 1852, James Dwight Dana, Crustacaea

     The Grapsoid species are represented of a degraded form in Porcellana

3. (heraldry, not comparable) Having steps; said of a cross whose extremities end in steps growing larger as they leave the centre; on degrees.

Synonyms

• (deprived of dignity): humiliated

Translations

Verb

degraded

1. simple past tense and past participle of degrade

English

Etymology

Latin sordidus, from sord?re (“be dirty”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??.d?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s??d?d/
• Homophone: sorted (in some varieties)

Adjective

sordid (comparative sordider, superlative sordidest)

1. Distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible.
2. Dirty or squalid.
3. Morally degrading.
   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

     He rode slowly home along the deserted road, watching the stars come out in the clear violet sky. They flashed softly into the limpid heavens, like jewels let fall into clear water. They were a reproach, he felt, to a sordid world.

   • 1994, The Lion King, Be Prepared musical number:

     I know it sounds sordid but you'll be rewarded, when at last I've been given my dues.

   • 2006, John C. Roberts, concurrence and dissent in part in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006)

     It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.

4. Grasping; stingy; avaricious.
5. Of a dull colour.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:greedy, Thesaurus:unclean

Derived terms

• sordidity
• sordidly
• sordidness

Translations

Anagrams

• 'droids, disord, dorids, droids

Estonian

Noun

sordid

1. nominative plural of sort

Romanian

Etymology

From French sordide, from Latin sordidus.

Adjective

sordid m or n (feminine singular sordid?, masculine plural sordizi, feminine and neuter plural sordide)

1. sordid

Declension