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Definition of "nasty" []

  • Disgustingly dirty. (adjective)
  • Physically repellent. (adjective)
  • Morally offensive; indecent. See Synonyms at offensive. (adjective)
  • Malicious; spiteful: "Will he say nasty things at my funeral?” ( Ezra Pound). (adjective)
  • Very unpleasant or annoying: nasty weather; a nasty trick. (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.

Use "nasty" in a sentence
  • ""I'm feeling very, very, _very_ well, my Lord Dook, Mr. V.V. On'y I decided I'd spend to-day lazyin 'at my writin'-desk, readin' over my billy-doox from peers of the rellum, 'stead of working my hands and legs off in that nasty, _nasty_, NASTY --""
  • "For instance: at a rustic dance in that state a Kentuckian said to an acquaintance of mine, in reply to his asking the name of a very fine girl, "That's my sister, stranger; and I flatter myself that she shows the _nastiest_ ankle in all Kentuck" -- _Unde derivatur_, from the constant rifle-practice in that state, a good shot or a pretty shot is termed also a nasty shot, because it would make a _nasty_ wound:"
  • "He connected them with what he called the nasty newfangled method of leaving a cloth on the table, as though to warn people that they were not to sit long."