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REFERENCE

dingy

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈdɪndʒi// dingy Archaic Informal

adj. looking dirty, dark, and old-fashioned. You use this to describe a place that feels unpleasant or sad because it is not clean or bright.

adj. characterised by a dull, dirty, or discoloured appearance; lacking brightness or cheerfulness. Often used to describe interiors or urban environments that feel neglected or oppressive.


SIMPLE

The old apartment has a very dingy atmosphere.

CONTEXTUAL

We stayed in a dingy hotel room with thin walls and no natural light.

COMPLEX

The once-grand ballroom had become a dingy warehouse, its ornate ceiling soot-stained and its mirrors cracked from years of neglect.

Synonyms
Etymology 1

From English dialectal (Kentish) dingy (“dirty”), of unknown origin, though probably from Middle English dingy, dungy, from Old English dyncgiġ (“covered with dung, dirty”), an umlaut form of duncge, dung (“dung”), equivalent to dung + -y, hence a doublet of dungy.

Etymology 2

From ding + -y.

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