Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use squalid in a sentence

10 example sentences · adjective, noun

Squalid means extremely dirty and unpleasant. Example: “Minister, I hardly think that we can exploit our Sovereign by involving her in some might call a squalid vote-grubbing exercise.”

Examples of squalid by meaning

adjectiveShowing or characterized by a contemptible lack of moral standards.

  • a squalid attempt to buy votes
  • Minister, I hardly think that we can exploit our Sovereign by involving her in some might call a squalid vote-grubbing exercise.1980 March 3, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Official Visit”, in Yes, Minister, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Humphrey Appleby (Nigel...

More sentences with squalid

  • With something rank and squalid and seemingly spent with the character of death.2016, Paul Quintanilla, Master Tom. From the entry sallow
  • Meanwhile we went on with the lodging-house life—a squalid, eventless life of crushing boredom.1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXXIII, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz…. From the entry eventless
  • Some of the storefronts that sell dried clams and sea urchins and putrescible vegetables give it a kind of squalid character.”2007 April 24, James Barron, “Museum Plans to Move to Its Symbolic Home, ‘Littler Italy’”, in New York Times. From the entry putrescible
  • In the squalid, unlit, toiletless bathroom, I poured cold water over myself with a bucket, soaped, and rinsed.2005, Jacques Leslie, Deep water: the epic struggle over dams, displaced people, and the environment. From the entry toiletless
  • It was more like the dead blind bubbling of some green, squalid slime: a world of plants that were as plain and flat as stones.1930, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Moderate Murderer”, in Four Faultless Felons, London; Toronto, Ont.: Cassell and Company, →OCLC…. From the entry limbless
  • We bought some biscuits and chocolate which we ate sedulously as we wandered through the squalid streets where the families of the fishermen live.1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “An Encounter”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 27. From the entry sedulously
  • Nature's precious link between a squalid Past and a nobler Future, broken, snatched away from her allotted place in the long chain of the ages!1903, Tom Collins [pseudonym; Joseph Furphy], “Wed. Jan. 9th. Trinidad Pad., per Sam Young. Conclave.”, in Such is Life: Being Certain…. From the entry fall by the wayside
  • If we expect America to ever again be more than a squalid kleptocracy, we’re going to need a comprehensive plan of de-Trumpification, including wide-ranging investigations and legal reforms.2018 February 23, Michelle Goldberg, “The De-Trumpification Agenda”, in New York Times. From the entry de-Trumpification

Meaning of squalid

  1. adjective Extremely dirty and unpleasant.
  2. adjective Showing or characterized by a contemptible lack of moral standards.
  3. noun Any member of the family Squalidae of dogfish sharks.

Full definition of squalid

Questions about squalid in a sentence

How do you use squalid in a sentence?
Squalid is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “Minister, I hardly think that we can exploit our Sovereign by involving her in some might call a squalid vote-grubbing exercise.”
What is a short sentence with squalid?
“a squalid attempt to buy votes”
What does squalid mean?
Squalid means extremely dirty and unpleasant.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: squalid (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use squalid in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/squalid. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.