to grime

Examples

• All

• After a long day of playing outside, the children managed to grime their clothes with mud.

• The face was grimed with dirt and tears.

  Fiction book (1991)

• She pointed at the soot-grimed smoke hole overhead.

  Fiction book (1990)

• Here I stand talking to mere mooncalves, Uncle Pumblechook waiting, and that boy grimed with dirt from his head to his feet.

  Great Expectations (1946)

• Tears washed white channels down his dark-grimed face, the blacksmith's son shouted the warning into his mother's ear.

  Fiction book (2002)

• A sleeping bag lay unrolled on a canvas cot below the room's single uncurtained window, the panes be-grimed.

  Fiction book (1997)

• I look up, my eyes clouded, my face carefully grimed, my hair clotted by grease and soil, groomed from the flowerbed outside my window.

  Fiction book (2001)

• The yellow light danced off the soft furs that cushioned her and shivered the shadows of the bundles that hung from the smoke-grimed roof.

  Fiction book (1992)

• She tried to grime the window by smearing her dirty hands all over it.

• The mechanic's hands were grimed with grease after working on the old engine.

Synonyms

S

to smear

vsto grime

63 3.7

To spread a substance over a surface in a messy way

is about an overall ingrained film, not just uneven spreading

S

to soil

vsto grime

59 4.5

To make something dirty with mud or dirt

focuses on a persistent surface film rather than simple contact stains

D

to dirty

vsto grime

14 1.0

To make something unclean or covered with dirt

is narrower, meaning a persistent grimy covering rather than general soil

S

to slime

vsto grime

13 6.5

To cover something with a thick slippery substance

involves a dry, gritty film rather than slippery coatings

M

to muddy

vsto grime

5 1.9

Make something dirty with mud or sediment

refers to a thin, sticky surface film rather than clouding by sediment

M

to muck

vsto grime

3 3.5

To make something dirty with mud

is more about a thin, ingrained film than heavy filth

S

to smirch

vsto grime

• Archaic

1 9.9

To put a dirty mark on something like a dress or carpet

describes a more general stubborn film covering many surfaces

M

to mud

vsto grime

1 5.1

To cover a surface with soft wet earth to make it smooth

is about leaving a lasting sticky layer instead of deliberate wet earth use

B

to begrime

vsto grime

1 9.4

To cover something with dark dirt so it becomes dirty

is about leaving a thinner, stubborn surface film instead of heavy residue

M

to muddy up

vsto grime

1 3.5

To make something dirty with wet dirt, for example shoes or floors

is about a clingy surface film not limited to mud

S

to smut

vsto grime

• Archaic

7.9

To stain something with black dirt or soot

covers dirtiness more widely, not only dark deposits

M

to muck up

vsto grime

• Informal

6.7

To make something dirty with mud or dirt

denotes a thinner, clingy surface film rather than muddy splashes

B

to bemire

vsto grime

9.9

To cover someone or something with mud

is more about leaving an ingrained grimy coating than just mud

G

to gung

vsto grime

• UK

9.9

To make something dirty with a sticky or greasy substance

refers to a dry, stubborn film rather than mainly greasy clogging

D

to dinge

vsto grime

• UK

9.8

To make something look dirty or faded

means leaving a clingy filthy layer rather than merely dulling appearance

C

to colly

vsto grime

• Archaic

9.9

To make something dirty or stained

describes a persistent surface film rather than isolated marks

Antonyms

C

to clean

∞ 1.0

To remove dirt and stains

P

to purify

30 4.6

To remove dirt and bad chemicals from water or air to make them clean

How Dirty

to contaminate

248 4.9

to grime

1 6.6

to soil

59 4.5

to smudge

30 3.7

Surface Forms

Etymology