nasty Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective offensive or even (of persons) malicious
    awful.
    • in a nasty mood
    • a nasty accident
    • a nasty shock
    • a nasty smell
    • a nasty trick to pull
    • Will he say nasty things at my funeral?"- Ezra Pound
  2. adjective satellite exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent
    tight.
    • a nasty problem
    • a good man to have on your side in a tight situation
  3. adjective satellite characterized by obscenity
    smutty; cruddy; filthy; foul.
    • had a filthy mouth
    • foul language
    • smutty jokes
  4. adjective satellite disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter
    filthy; foul.
    • as filthy as a pigsty
    • a foul pond
    • a nasty pigsty of a room

WordNet

Nas"ty adjective
Etymology
For older nasky; cf. dial. Sw. naskug, nasket.
Wordforms
comparative Nastier ; superlative Nastiest
Definitions
  1. Offensively filthy; very dirty, foul, or defiled; disgusting; nauseous.
  2. Hence, loosely: Offensive; disagreeable; unpropitious; wet; drizzling; as, a nasty rain, day, sky.
  3. Characterized by obcenity; indecent; indelicate; gross; filthy. Syn. -- Nasty, Filthy, Foul, Dirty. Anything nasty is usually wet or damp as well as filthy or dirty, and disgusts by its stickness or odor; but filthy and foul imply that a thing is filled or covered with offensive matter, while dirty describes it as defiled or sullied with dirt of any kind; as, filthy clothing, foul vapors, etc.

Webster 1913