NASTY (nastier, nastiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: nastier    , nastiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does nasty mean? 

• NASTY (adjective)
  The adjective NASTY has 4 senses:

1. offensive or even (of persons) malicious

2. exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent

3. characterized by obscenity

4. disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter

  Familiarity information: NASTY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NASTY (adjective)

Comparative: nastier   
Superlative: nastiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Offensive or even (of persons) malicious

Synonyms:

awful; nasty

Context example:

Will he say nasty things at my funeral?

Similar:

dirty; filthy; lousy (vile; despicable)

grotty (very unpleasant or offensive)

hateful; mean (characterized by malice)

Also:

unpleasant (offensive or disagreeable; causing discomfort or unhappiness)

Attribute:

nastiness (the quality of being highly unpleasant)

Antonym:

nice (pleasant or pleasing or agreeable in nature or appearance)

Derivation:

nastiness (the quality of being highly unpleasant)

nastiness (malevolence by virtue of being malicious or spiteful or nasty)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent

Synonyms:

nasty; tight

Context example:

a good man to have on your side in a tight situation

Similar:

difficult; hard (not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Characterized by obscenity

Synonyms:

cruddy; filthy; foul; nasty; smutty

Context example:

smutty jokes

Similar:

dirty ((of behavior or especially language) characterized by obscenity or indecency)

Derivation:

nastiness (malevolence by virtue of being malicious or spiteful or nasty)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter

Synonyms:

filthy; foul; nasty

Context example:

a nasty pigsty of a room

Similar:

dirty; soiled; unclean (soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime)

Derivation:

nastiness (a state characterized by foul or disgusting dirt and refuse)

 Context examples 

Alas! said she, what can you do for me, you nasty frog?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Tough as they make them and twice as nasty.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Nasty 1 may also be shedding the material sporadically.

(Hubble Observes One-of-a-Kind Star Nicknamed 'Nasty', NASA)

We know there are nasty things in the world!

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Nasty rude ways with strangers, as you may remember.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

However, chemo can cause nasty side effects, like vomiting, fatigue and hair loss.

(Molecule in Immune System Able to Trigger 'Suicide' of Cancerous Tumors, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

But I can't bear to see them dirty and nasty.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I will answer for it, he never cared three straws about her—who could about such a nasty little freckled thing?

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The pitch was bubbling in the seams; the nasty stench of the place turned me sick; if ever a man smelt fever and dysentery, it was in that abominable anchorage.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)