Definition of "sordid" []

• Filthy or dirty; foul. (adjective)
• Depressingly squalid; wretched: sordid shantytowns. (adjective)
• Morally degraded: "The sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils” ( James Joyce). See Synonyms at mean2. (adjective)
• Exceedingly mercenary; grasping. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "As a result of the grand jury's report on what it called "sordid, shocking acts," Monsignor William Lynn, former secretary of the clergy in the Archdiocese, faces charges of child endangerment."
• "DALLAS - Texas prosecutors on Thursday abruptly ended a three-year criminal probe into what they called a sordid small-town swinger's club where children as young as 5 were forced into performing sex."
• "The majority of the world's people live in sordid conditions, deprived of basic necessities."