sleaze

English

Etymology

Back-formation from sleazy, originally used to describe the thinness and low quality of cloth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sliːz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːz

Noun

sleaze (countable and uncountable, plural sleazes)

1. (uncountable) Low moral standards.
   • 2004 August 19, London Review of Books:

     ministerial sleaze and mendacity

   • 1988 January 11, The New Yorker:

     The level of sleaze in this city seems to have been rising rapidly in recent years.

2. (informal, countable) A person of low moral standards.
   • 1999, E. Brewer, Picking Up the Marbles, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 162:

     She knew that sleaze Hakido would do something to stick the knife in and twist it to the hilt.

3. (informal, countable) A man who is sexually aggressive or forward with women to the point of causing disgust.
   • 1989, Weekly World News, "My hubby robbed the cradle and left me with the baby", 7 November, p. 42.

     I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that sleaze slept with your boss and I wouldn't take it lying down.

   • 1996, S. Hoskinson Frommer, Buried in Quilts, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 64:

     Mother, he's such a sleaze! The way he looked at you!

4. (informal, uncountable) sleazy material

   a tabloid newspaper full of sleaze

Derived terms

• sleazebag
• sleazeball
• sleazecore
• sleaze factor
• sleaze-merchant
• sleazemonger
• sleaze-ridden
• sleazy

 

Translations

low moral standards

• Catalan: vil (ca)
• Czech: špína (cs) f, hnus (cs) m
• Dutch: laag allooi n
• Galician: vileza (gl) f
• German: Verderbtheit (de) f
• Greek: αίσχη n or pl (aíschi)
• Hebrew: זִמָּה (he) f (zimmá)
• Irish: broghaisireacht f
• Italian: malcostume m
• Polish: zgnilizna (pl) f, zepsucie (pl) n, niemoralność (pl) f
• Portuguese: falta de princípios, corrupção (pt)
• Russian: амора́льность (ru) f (amorálʹnostʹ)

a person with low moral standards

• Catalan: aprofitat (ca) m
• Czech: špína (cs)
• Galician: canalla m, corrupto m, corrupta f
• Italian: scostumato (it) m
• Polish: kanalia (pl) f, gnida (pl) f
• Portuguese: canalha (pt), corrupto (pt)
• Russian: дешёвка (ru) f (dešóvka), ничто́жество (ru) n (ničtóžestvo)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} corrupción (es) f, ^{(please verify)} las corruptelas, ^{(please verify)} los chanchullos, ^{(please verify)} sordidez (es) f, ^{(please verify)} cutrez (es) f

Verb

sleaze (third-person singular simple present sleazes, present participle sleazing, simple past and past participle sleazed)

1. To act or progress in a sleazy manner.

   He sleazed his way over to the women at the bar.

2. To slander. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Anagrams

• leazes