Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Augean

Augean

1 9.9
Very dirty and hard to clean, often describing big neglected places or problems
  • adjective
  • /ɔˈdʒiən/
  • Literature
: aúreo
  • The environmental agency faced an Augean task in cleaning the polluted river.

Examples

  • The committee was overwhelmed by the Augean challenge of reforming the outdated policies.

  • After years of neglect, the abandoned house was in an Augean state of disrepair.

  • WE'RE GONNA CLEAN UP THE AUGEAN STABLES.

    City Hall (1996)

Synonyms

uncleanable
vsAugean
1 6.6

Impossible to make clean even with a lot of effort

is for things extremely filthy from long neglect yet still possibly cleanable

Antonyms

clean
∞ 1.0

Free from dirt or harmful things

orderly
15 2.4

Arranged in a tidy, organized way

Compounds

Augean stables
  • Literature
1 9.9

A place or situation very dirty, full of disorder and corruption that needs a big effort to clean up

How Dirty

Augean
  • Literature
1 9.9
filthy
115 1.5
soiled
26 2.5
dirty
446 1.0

Surface Forms

Augean positive

Morphology

Augean = Augeas (opaque) = Augeas + ean

The adjective is formed from a mythological proper name plus an adjectival suffix; without knowledge of the myth the figurative meaning 'extremely filthy' is not derivable for an average learner.

Etymology

Augean comes from the Greek story of King Augeas, whose 'stables' were so full of years of dirt that Hercules cleaned them in one day by sending rivers through them. So Augean now means a very dirty or huge cleaning job and is used for big efforts to clear long-neglected mess or corruption.