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Glite Dictionary
filthy rich

filthy rich

14 4.4
Having a lot more money than most people
  • idiom
  • /ˈfɪlθi rɪtʃ/
  • Informal
translation icon : millonario
  • After years of hard work, he finally became filthy rich with his successful business.
  • get filthy rich
  • become filthy rich
  • filthy rich guy

and I'm not saying Elon Musk isn't filthy rich. He is. He is. But

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Examples

  • If it's not our destiny to sell the pieces and become filthy rich, what is?

    The Profane Exhibit (2013)

  • And the government ministers are also getting filthy rich (on a minister's salary?).

    Blog text (14)

  • You must be filthy rich.

    Attack of the Sabretooth (2005)

  • I married this beautiful lady who just by chance happened to be filthy rich.

    Grizzly (1976)

  • See, people work here to become filthy rich.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • - You're going to be filthy rich.

    Lovelace (2013)

  • They better be rich, and I mean filthy rich.

    The Thief Lord (2006)

  • Look, anyway, they're filthy rich, OK?

    Crocodile 2: Death Roll (2002)

  • I've heard she doesn't look like much, but she is filthy rich.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Well, the reward will be very large and pecuniary, and, er, Catalina's father's filthy rich, he's rolling in it.

    Cat Run (2011)

Synonyms

rich
vsfilthy rich
∞ 1.0

Having a lot of money and valuable things

is stronger and suggests showy excess beyond simple abundance
wealthy
vsfilthy rich
520 2.5

Having a lot of money and many expensive things

is more extreme and often implies conspicuous or excessive richness
affluent
vsfilthy rich
67 5.5

Having a lot of money and possessions

is more informal and carries stronger sense of excess or conspicuousness
moneyed
vsfilthy rich
  • Formal
7 5.7

Having a lot of money

is more vivid and implies excessive or showy accumulation of money
rolling in it
vsfilthy rich
  • UK
3 7.4

Has a lot of money and can buy many things

is more negative and emphasises excess and showy spending
super-rich
vsfilthy rich
1 3.4

Having far more money than most people

stresses a conspicuous or excessive abundance rather than mere size
super-wealthy
vsfilthy rich
1 4.1

Having much more money than most people

emphasizes showy or excessive wealth rather than just very large sums
ultra-wealthy
vsfilthy rich
4.2

Having much more money than most people

often adds a sense of conspicuous excess beyond mere vast holdings
oofy
vsfilthy rich
  • Slang
9.9

Having a lot of money and showing it with expensive clothes or cars

is stronger and more extreme with a sense of conspicuous excess
overrich
vsfilthy rich
6.5

Having too much fat, sugar or a strong smell that makes it unpleasant

describes extreme personal money or asset abundance that is conspicuous rather than unpleasant

Antonyms

poor
∞ 1.0

Having little money or possessions

impoverished
50 6.2

People or places that have very little money and few things they need

How Wealthy

filthy rich
  • Informal
14 4.4
affluent
1 6.0
rich
∞ 1.0
well-off
33 3.4
comfortable
107 2.9

Surface Forms

filthy rich positive

Morphology

filthy + rich

The adjective 'filthy' (literally 'very dirty') functions metaphorically as an intensifier modifying 'rich', so a learner who knows both words can likely infer it means 'extremely wealthy'. However, this is an idiomatic, evaluative use of 'filthy' rather than a strictly compositional one, and the negative connotation and conventionalized phrasing make the link only partially predictable for a B1 learner.

Etymology

The phrase filthy rich comes from a strong picture: imagine someone with so much money they seem 'filthy', as if the cash had made them dirty. That's why the parts filthy and rich are used to mean 'extremely wealthy'.