ENGLISH
REFERENCE

unwashed

adj.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ənˈwɑʃt// UK //ʌnwˈɒʃt// un·washed

adj. not clean or not washed. It can also describe someone who does not care about their appearance or social rules.

adj. unclean or not having been washed; by extension, describes a person who lacks social polish or conventional grooming standards. Often carries a derogatory or dismissive tone.


SIMPLE

The unwashed clothes are starting to smell.

CONTEXTUAL

He was dismissed from the interview because his unwashed appearance suggested a lack of professionalism.

COMPLEX

The critic dismissed the band as a group of unwashed outsiders, failing to recognize the technical mastery hidden behind their intentionally disheveled aesthetic.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English unwasched, unwasschyd, unwessched, a weak verb conjugation of earlier Middle English unwaschen (“unwashen”), equivalent to un- + washed.

Idioms1 entry

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