UNCLEAN

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime

Example:

Cinderella did the dirty work while her sisters preened themselves

Synonyms:

dirty; soiled; unclean

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

unwashed (not cleaned with or as if with soap and water)

unswept (not having been swept)

uncleanly (habitually unclean)

travel-soiled; travel-stained (soiled from travel)

sooty (covered with or as if with soot)

snot-nosed; snotty (dirty with nasal discharge)

smudgy (smeared with something that soils or stains; these words are often used in combination)

scummy (covered with scum)

ratty (dirty and infested with rats)

mucky; muddy (dirty and messy; covered with mud or muck)

maculate (spotted or blotched)

lousy (infested with lice)

greasy; oily (smeared or soiled with grease or oil)

flyblown; sordid; squalid (foul and run-down and repulsive)

filthy; foul; nasty (disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter)

feculent (foul with waste matter)

dirty-faced (having a dirty face)

cobwebby (covered with cobwebs)

buggy (infested with bugs)

black; smutty (soiled with dirt or soot)

begrimed; dingy; grimy; grubby; grungy; raunchy (thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot)

befouled; fouled (made dirty or foul)

bedraggled; draggled (limp and soiled as if dragged in the mud)

Augean (extremely filthy from long neglect)

Also:

untidy (not neat and tidy)

Attribute:

cleanness (the state of being clean; without dirt or other impurities)

Derivation:

uncleanness (the state of being unsanitary)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having a physical or moral blemish so as to make impure according to dietary or ceremonial laws

Example:

and the swine...is unclean to you

Synonyms:

impure; unclean

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

nonkosher; terefah; tref (not conforming to dietary laws)

untouchable ((especially used in traditional Hindu belief of the lowest caste or castes) defiling)

Also:

impure (combined with extraneous elements)

Domain category:

faith; religion; religious belief (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny)

Antonym:

clean (ritually clean or pure)

Derivation:

uncleanness (the state of being unsanitary)

Credits

Context examples:

Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall be until He may deign to let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurred His wrath.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The instant she saw it she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking sobs:—"Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that it should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may have most cause to fear."