unclean
/ʌnˈkliːn
/adjective
1Dirty: the firm was fined for operating in unclean premises...
- It's because of you that we are pegged as being unclean, dirty or unhealthy.
- As they land on Earth, the visitors are greeted by unclean premises and atmospheric pollution.
- If somebody is lying in a hospital, they are dying because of dirty water and unclean water, and we've got to solve the problem of clean water; otherwise, people are going to die.
Synonyms
dirty, filthy, grubby, grimy, mucky, fouled, foul, impure, adulterated, tainted, tarnished, stained, soiled, begrimed, smeared, unwashed;
dusty, sooty, muddy, scummy;
polluted, contaminated, infected, insanitary, unhygienic, unhealthy, germ-ridden, germy, disease-ridden, septic
informal yucky, cruddy, icky
British informal manky, grotty, gungy
Australian/New Zealand informal scungy
archaic uncleanly
literary besmirched
rare feculent
2Morally wrong: unclean thoughts...
- Michael McDowell objects, as it will interfere with his plan to intern the hard-left and anyone morally unclean.
- The outraged cleric fumed: ‘All that goes for an unclean and unhealthy life.’
- I was not allowing him to be on for the last 20 minutes, letting unclean mouths shout filthy chants at him.
2.1(Of food) regarded in a particular religion as impure and unfit to be eaten: both religions regard pork as unclean...
- Peter understands the church's squeamishness about eating unclean foods and staying in a nonkosher home; Peter had gulped a little himself.
- Along with their involved list of unclean foods they were forbidden to eat, some Jews also had elaborate rituals of hand washing before meals.
- We need not worry about such things as ceremonial washings and clean and unclean foods.
2.2(In biblical use) ritually impure; (of a spirit) evil.These evil spirits made people ritually unclean and the unclean could not share in corporate worship....
- In the New Testament, it is striking how those with an unclean spirit were able to recognise our Lord.
- In Mark 1: 23-24 the Bible says the man had an unclean spirit, as if in the singular.
Synonyms
sinful, immoral, bad, wicked, evil, corrupt, impure, sullied, unwholesome, sordid, disgusting, debased, degenerate, depraved, licentious, lewd, unchaste, lustful
archaic uncleanly
impure;
forbidden
Derivatives
uncleanness
- The concern was about impurity, pollution, uncleanness.
- They destroy the altars, after having defiled them with their uncleanness.
- When it is symbolic, the insects often represent filth and uncleanness.
Origin
Old English unclǣne (see un-1, clean).