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nasty

Pronunciation: /ˈnaː.sti/

The English word “nasty” has 12 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Dirty, filthy.
  2. Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person).
  3. Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive.
  4. Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd.
  5. Spiteful, unkind.
  6. Awkward, difficult to navigate; dangerous.
  7. Grave or dangerous (of an accident, illness etc.).
  8. Formidable, terrific; wicked.

noun

  1. Something nasty.
  2. Sexual intercourse.
  3. A video nasty.

verb

  1. To besmirch, to befoul.

Etymology

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.