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Glite Dictionary
😒 Moral ugliness 🧵 Visible joins
seaminess

seaminess

1 9.3
An unpleasant hidden side of a person or place
  • noun
  • /ˈsiːmiːnəs/
: sordidez
  • The journalist wrote about the seaminess lurking beneath the surface of politics.

Examples

  • There is a certain seaminess to the stories he tells.

  • The seaminess of the gossip column was shocking.

  • The documentary revealed the seaminess behind the glamorous world of fashion.

  • He was fascinated by the seaminess of the city's nightlife.

  • The seaminess of the scandal shocked the community, revealing the underbelly of corruption.

  • Many were unsettled by the seaminess of the film, which explored dark and morally questionable themes.

  • The city's seaminess was evident in the neglected streets and the presence of unsavory characters.

Synonyms

ugliness
vsseaminess
22 4.6

A quality of being morally bad or cruel

focuses on unpleasant or morally questionable traits rather than general badness
vileness
vsseaminess
2 8.0

Very bad and morally wrong behavior

is milder, meaning unpleasant or morally questionable without extreme wickedness
sleaziness
vsseaminess
  • Literature
1 8.1

Being dishonest and unfair in a way that harms others

is about unpleasant or morally questionable quality rather than cheapness of character
filthiness
vsseaminess
1 5.3

A state of being morally bad because of wrong actions

highlights unpleasant morals or doubtful ethics rather than literal dirt
sordidness
vsseaminess
1 8.8

A state of being dirty and morally bad

is mainly about being morally questionable rather than physical uncleanliness
unwholesomeness
vsseaminess
1 8.1

Being harmful to health or to people's morals

emphasizes moral unpleasantness or doubt rather than physical or health harm

How Seamy

depravity
  • Formal
24 8.8
corruption
382 4.8
seaminess
1 9.3

Surface Forms

seaminess singular
seaminesses plural

Morphology

seaminess = seamy (opaque) = seam + y + ness

The adjective 'seamy' in the sense 'sordid' is a metaphorical extension not predictable from the concrete noun 'seam', so learners cannot derive 'seaminess'='sordidness' from 'seam'.

Etymology

Seaminess comes from seam 'where two pieces are joined', and people imagined a hidden dirty line in a fine coat as a picture for the ugly things hidden under the surface. So seaminess means the quality of being unpleasant or morally wrong.