Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🧵 Visible joins 😒 Moral ugliness
seaminess

seaminess

9.3
An unpleasant hidden side of a person or place
  • noun
  • /ˈsiːmiːnəs/
translation icon : 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
20 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
sordidness
vsseaminess
1 8.8

A state of being dirty and morally bad

is mainly about being morally questionable rather than physical uncleanliness
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
unwholesomeness
vsseaminess
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
25 8.8
corruption
355 4.8
seaminess
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.