different between smutty vs sleazy

English

Etymology

From smut +? -y. Related to German schmutzig (“filthy, dirty, smutty”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?sm?ti/

Adjective

smutty (comparative smuttier, superlative smuttiest)

1. Soiled with smut; blackened, dirty.
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, p. 62:

     She caught up the corner of her skirt and lifted the smutty coffee-pot from the stove.

2. Obscene, indecent.
   • Episode 12, The Cyclops

     And what was it only one of the smutty yankee pictures Terry borrows off of Corny Kelleher. Secrets for enlarging your private parts.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XI, p. 178, [1]

     Prayter said with a smile to the faces looking down, "Rilly—this train's a joke, isn't it!"

     A wag yelled, "Yes—a smutty one!"

     With raucous laughter in his ears, the parson turned and looked for Lace, feeling rather lonely.

3. Affected with the smut fungus.

Translations

Verb

smutty (third-person singular simple present smutties, present participle smuttying, simple past and past participle smuttied)

1. (transitive) To make dirty; to soil.

English

Etymology

Origin obscure. Possibly a corruption of Silesia, through a word meaning “Silesian cloth”. Silesia used to be the most important location of Germany’s weaving industry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sli?.zi/
• Rhymes: -i?zi

Adjective

sleazy (comparative sleazier, superlative sleaziest)

1. Marked by low quality; inferior; inadequate.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:low-quality
2. Raunchy or perverted in nature; tastelessly sexual.

   Synonym: skeezy
3. Untrustworthy.

   Synonyms: unreliable, questionable, sketchy, shady, slimy
4. (dated, of fabric) Thin and flimsy.

Derived terms

• sleaze
• sleazebag
• sleaziness

Usage notes

The following example shows the first three senses in a single sentence:

Sleazy John may be interpreted as untrustworthy, perverted or both in this case.

Translations