sleaze
English
editEtymology
editBack-formation from sleazy, originally used to describe the thinness and low quality of cloth.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /sliːz/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -iːz
Noun
editsleaze (countable and uncountable, plural sleazes)
- (uncountable) Low moral standards.
- 2004 August 19, London Review of Books:
- ministerial sleaze and mendacity
- 1988 January 11, The New Yorker:
- The level of sleaze in this city seems to have been rising rapidly in recent years.
- (informal, countable) A person of low moral standards.
- 1999, E. Brewer, Picking Up the Marbles, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 162:
- She knew that sleaze Hakido would do something to stick the knife in and twist it to the hilt.
- (informal, countable) A man who is sexually aggressive or forward with women to the point of causing disgust.
- 1989, Weekly World News, "My hubby robbed the cradle and left me with the baby", 7 November, p. 42.
- I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that sleaze slept with your boss and I wouldn't take it lying down.
- 1996, S. Hoskinson Frommer, Buried in Quilts, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 64:
- Mother, he's such a sleaze! The way he looked at you!
- 1989, Weekly World News, "My hubby robbed the cradle and left me with the baby", 7 November, p. 42.
- (informal, uncountable) sleazy material
- a tabloid newspaper full of sleaze
Derived terms
editTranslations
editlow moral standards
|
a person with low moral standards
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
editsleaze (third-person singular simple present sleazes, present participle sleazing, simple past and past participle sleazed)
- To act or progress in a sleazy manner.
- He sleazed his way over to the women at the bar.
- To slander. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English back-formations
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/iːz
- Rhymes:English/iːz/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English informal terms
- English terms with usage examples
- English verbs
- en:People