squalid

Borrowed from Latin squalidus, from squalere (“to be rough or dirty”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈskwɒlɪd/
• Rhymes: -ɒlɪd

• Audio (Southern England):

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squalid (comparative squalider, superlative squalidest)

1. Extremely dirty and unpleasant.
   • 1686, The Refin'd Courtier, or a Correction of several indecencies crept into civil conversation., London: Matthew Gilliflower:

     [...] 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.

2. Showing a contemptible lack of moral standards.

   A squalid attempt to buy votes.

   • 1980 March 3, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Official Visit”, in Yes, Minister, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne):

     Minister, I hardly think that we can exploit our Sovereign by involving her in some might call a squalid vote-grubbing exercise.

squalid (plural squalids)

1. (zoology) Any member of the family Squalidae of dogfish sharks.
   • 2008, David A. Ebert, James A. Sulikowski, Biology of Skates, page 126:

     Numerous diet studies on squalids have shown that members of this family tend to feed mainly on teleosts and cephalopods […]