mean, ignoble, abject, sordid mean being below the normal standards of human decency and dignity.
mean suggests small-mindedness, ill temper, or cupidity.
mean and petty satire
ignoble suggests a loss or lack of some essential high quality of mind or spirit.
an ignoble scramble after material possessions
abject may imply degradation, debasement, or servility.
abject poverty
sordid is stronger than all of these in stressing physical or spiritual degradation and abjectness.
a sordid story of murder and revenge
Example Sentences
And Vermes's story is also in part an international thriller, especially with the high-level goings-on around the Scrolls. The full sordid tale of spite, scholarly selfishness, and undisguised anti-Semitism, which kept access to the Dead Sea texts restricted for decades to a tiny cartel, unwinds in his pages. Paula Fredriksen, New Republic, 15 Oct. 2001Another reporter working to verify the book's charges ended up unmasking author James Hatfield's sordid past, revealing how little the publisher knew about its author … Jennifer Greenstein, Brill's Content, February 2000In fact, audiences now have become so blasé about accounts of celebrities' sordid personal lives that some stars are turning potential publicity nightmares into confessional coups. Stephen Rebello, Vibe, May 1999 He shared the sordid details of his past. he managed to rise above the sordid streets upon which he grew up
Recent Examples on the WebThis move came on Saturday, two days after the woman filed a civil suit against Buffalo’s sixth-round pick and two of his former teammates, and the sordid case exploded on the national radar. Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY, 28 Aug. 2022 The hearing, livestreamed for the public with only key participants in the room, marked the end of a case that galvanized public attention and shocked the community with a sordid look at teen life in Mat-Su. Zaz Hollander, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Aug. 2022 The league and the NFL Players Association settled Watson’s ongoing sordid drama Thursday, reaching a tweener punishment that doesn’t seem nearly severe enough. Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Aug. 2022 There’s no evidence for this, but the sordid history of the FBI’s Russia collusion falsehoods means that many people might believe it. The Editorial Board, WSJ, 12 Aug. 2022 Its aim to create a gritty feel for the sordid underside of Los Angeles life dissolves in the simplistic nature of Youcef’s scheme, which seems likely to quickly land him behind bars. Kyle Smith, WSJ, 11 Aug. 2022 The investigation of Alfredo’s disappearance unearths a dark life marked by blackmail, greed, gambling debts and a sordid family secret. Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 8 Aug. 2022 But the film is jolted alive by the ever-present Gyllenhaal, who haunts every frame of Dan Gilroy's film just as his Bloom can always be found stalking around the periphery of every sordid locale. Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 2 Aug. 2022 Those two minutes of impressionistic storytelling are also a brief respite and an alluring rebuke to a kind of sordid misogyny and inflammatory ignorance that has become a rallying cry for some conservatives and extremists. Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 26 July 2022 See More