different between dirtying vs filth

English

Verb

dirtying

1. present participle of dirty

Noun

dirtying (plural dirtyings)

1. A soiling or making dirty.
   • 1982, Gershon Legman, No Laughing Matter: An Analysis of Sexual Humor

     Once understood, not as the venereal-disease jokes they pretend to be, but as food-dirtyings and fecal dirtyings in the attempt to defile the image of the hidden mother, these jokes do not really seem very frightening, or even disgusting, […]

English

Etymology

From Middle English filth, from Old English f?lþu, from Proto-West Germanic *f?liþu, equivalent to foul +? -th.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?l?/
• Rhymes: -?l?

Noun

filth (usually uncountable, plural filths)

1. Dirt; foul matter; that which soils or defiles.

2. Smut; that which sullies or defiles the moral character; corruption; pollution.
   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Excellency of the Christian Religion

     purifying our souls from the dross and filth of sensual delights

3. (Britain, derogatory, slang, with definite article) The police.

4. (derogatory, uncountable) A vile or disgusting person.
5. (US, agriculture, dated) Weeds growing on pasture land.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations