nasty

CEFRB1

/ˈnaː.sti/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Unpleasant, unkind, or harmful.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person).

Examples

  • A nasty incident was prevented by the timely arrival of the police.

  • I can't stand that nasty attitude of his any longer.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈnæs.ti/
  • /ˈnɑː.sti/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive.

  2. Dirty, filthy.

  3. Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd.

More examples

In context

  • What a nasty man he is!

  • Processed foods are full of aspartame and other nasties.

  • This video game involves flying through a maze zapping various nasties.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The leftover food had a blank smell because it had been sitting out for days.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English nasty, nasti, naxty, naxte (“unclean, filthy”), whence also Early Modern English nasky (“nasty”), of obscure origin. Probably from earlier Middle English *naskty, *naskedy, from Middle English *nasked (“dirty, messy”) + -y, ultimately of North Germanic origin (comparable to Danish nasket (“dirty, foul, unpleasant”), Swedish naskot (“dirty, filthy”), Swedish naskig, naskug (“nasty, dirty, messy”)), themselves all probably related to Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“tender, soft”). Likely doublet of nesh and nosh. Cognate with Scots nastie, nestie (“dirty, filthy”). Alternative theories have also been proposed, which include: * From Low German nask (“nasty”) + -y. * Middle Dutch...