In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
SORDID
sordid
(adjective) meanly avaricious and mercenary; “sordid avarice”; “sordid material interests”
flyblown, squalid, sordid
(adjective) foul and run-down and repulsive; “a flyblown bar on the edge of town”; “a squalid overcrowded apartment in the poorest part of town”; “squalid living conditions”; “sordid shantytowns”
dirty, sordid, shoddy
(adjective) unethical or dishonest; “dirty police officers”; “a sordid political campaign”; “shoddy business practices”
seamy, seedy, sleazy, sordid, squalid
(adjective) morally degraded; “a seedy district”; “the seamy side of life”; “sleazy characters hanging around casinos”; “sleazy storefronts with...dirt on the walls”- Seattle Weekly; “the sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils”- James Joyce; “the squalid atmosphere of intrigue and betrayal”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
sordid (comparative sordider, )
Distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible.
Dirty or squalid.
Morally degrading.
Grasping; stingy; avaricious.
Of a dull colour.
Synonyms
• See also greedy
Anagrams
• 'droids, disord, dorids, droids
Source: Wiktionary
Sor"did, a. Etym: [L. sordidus, fr. sordere to be filthy or dirty; probably akin to E. swart: cf. F. sordide. See Swart, a.]
1. Filthy; foul; dirty. [Obs.] A sordid god; down from his hoary chin A length of beard descends, uncombed, unclean. Dryden.
2. Vile; base; gross; mean; as, vulgar, sordid mortals. "To scorn the sordid world." Milton.
3. Meanly avaricious; covetous; niggardly. He may be old, And yet sordid, who refuses gold. Sir J. Denham.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
23 January 2025
LEFT
(adjective) being or located on or directed toward the side of the body to the west when facing north; “my left hand”; “left center field”; “the left bank of a river is bank on your left side when you are facing downstream”
Coffee Trivia
