Squalid Meaning
/ˈskwɒlɪd/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjExtremely dirty and unpleasant, especially as a result of poverty or neglect.
adjExtremely dirty and unpleasant.
Sentence Examples
Investigators were appalled by the squalid conditions in the cellar.
The refugees were living in a narrow, squalid backstreet.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The refugees lived in ____ conditions without clean water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The refugees lived in ____ conditions without basic sanitation.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Latin squālus Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *-ōs Proto-Italic *-ōs Latin -or Latin squālor Latin squāleō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin squāliduslbor. English squalid Learned borrowing from Latin squālidus, from squālēre (“to be rough or dirty”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[...] Mythologists describe Pan the son of Mercury (who was the God of Speech) with the upper part like a man, and the lower like a beast, to signifie that Truth is fair and comely, but a Lye squalid and Deformed."
— 1686, The Refin'd Courtier, or a Correction of several indecencies crept into civil conversation., London: Matthew Gilliflower:
"Minister, I hardly think that we can exploit our Sovereign by involving her in some might call a squalid vote-grubbing exercise."
— 1980 March 3, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Official Visit”, in Yes, Minister, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne):
"[A] demon is just what we’ve been needing for a long, long time for our squalid affairs, to gratify our squalid desires, the sort of demon, of course, who can be persuaded to believe that he is the demon who will take all our own demoniacality on his shoulders, an Antichrist bearing the Iron Cross, and will not insolently slip through our fingers to string himself up before time, as [Nikolai] Stavrogin did."
— 2004, Imre Kertész, translated by Tim Wilkinson, Kaddish for an Unborn Child […], New York, N.Y.: Vintage International, →ISBN, page 39:
"Numerous diet studies on squalids have shown that members of this family tend to feed mainly on teleosts and cephalopods[…]"
— 2008, David A. Ebert, James A. Sulikowski, Biology of Skates, page 126:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The refugees lived in ____ conditions without clean water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The refugees lived in ____ conditions without basic sanitation.