dingy

adjective

din·​gy ˈdin-jē 

dingier; dingiest

1

: dirty, unclean

dingy fingernails

2

: shabby, squalid

a dingy hotel room

dingily

ˈdin-jə-lē 

adverb

dinginess

ˈdin-jē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• bedraggled
• befouled
• begrimed
• bemired
• besmirched
• black
• blackened
• cruddy
• dirty
• draggled
• dusty
• filthy
• foul
• grimy
• grotty [chiefly British]
• grubby
• grungy
• mucky
• muddy
• nasty
• smudged
• smutty
• soiled
• sordid
• stained
• sullied
• unclean
• uncleanly

Examples of dingy in a Sentence

He's been staying in a dingy motel.

the bed sheets were pretty dingy so we threw them in the laundry pile

Recent Examples on the Web

Basketball was so unimportant and the school was so chintzy that the athletic director, who also was the head football coach, made Sloan pay $107 out of his own pocket to have carpet installed in his dingy office. —Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel, 20 Mar. 2025

Carved out of the ground floor of the airport’s parking garage, this space was a temporary replacement for the dingy, crowded, original domestic terminal built 34 years prior, which was not handicap-accessible and had an inadequate baggage facility and a troublesome security layout. —Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 15 Mar. 2025

Will's dingy ground-floor one-bedroom apartment in a South Boston three-decker at 190 W. Sixth St. got renovated in 2012 and sold for $699,000 in 2017. —Mike Deehan, Axios, 10 Jan. 2025

At a dingy desk with the help of a couple of oddball objects (Amy Rubin did the Expressionist zigzag of a set and Forest Entsminger the zany props), Mellor’s witness is describing a play to us. —Sara Holdren, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1691, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for dingy

• stingy

Kids Definition

dingy

adjective

din·​gy ˈdin-jē 

dingier; dingiest

: rather dark and dirty : not fresh or clean

a dingy room

dingy colors

dingily

-jə-lē 

adverb

dinginess

-jē-nəs 

noun