Definition

1. Noun:

   • Soil, earth: Loose material consisting of clay, sand, humus, and other particles that forms the upper layer of the earth's surface.
   • Any unclean substance, such as mud, dust, or grime: Matter that soils or makes something unclean.
   • Gossip, especially of a malicious or scandalous nature: Information about the private lives of others, often intended to damage their reputation.
   • Excrement: (Informal, often considered obscene) Waste matter from the bowels.

2. Adjective:

   • (Of a road) Unpaved and often muddy or dusty: Not having a hard, level surface suitable for reliable travel in all weather.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Soil/Earth):
  • The children dug in the dirt to find worms.
  • We need to buy more dirt for the garden.
• Noun (Unclean Matter):
  • Wash that dirt off your hands before dinner.
  • There was a layer of dirt on the old window.
• Noun (Gossip):
  • The magazine is always digging up dirt on celebrities.
  • She loves to hear the latest dirt about her coworkers.
• Noun (Excrement):
  • Watch your step, there's dog dirt on the sidewalk.
• Adjective:
  • After the rain, the dirt road became impassable.

Advanced Usage

• "to dish the dirt": To gossip or reveal scandalous information.
  • The former employee dished the dirt on the company's secrets.
• "to treat someone like dirt": To treat someone with great disrespect.
  • He was a terrible boss who treated his staff like dirt.
• "dirt cheap": Extremely inexpensive.
  • I bought this old chair dirt cheap at a garage sale.

Variants and Related Words

• Dirty (adj): Covered or marked with dirt; unclean. Also used to mean obscene or unfair.
  • His clothes were dirty from working in the garden.
  • That was a dirty trick to play.
• Dirtiness (n): The state or quality of being dirty.

Synonyms

• Soil, earth, ground (for the earth/soil meaning).
• Grime, filth, muck (for the unclean matter meaning).
• Gossip, scandal, slander (for the malicious information meaning).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Dig up dirt (on someone): To search for and discover damaging information about someone.
  • The reporter tried to dig up dirt on the politician.
• Hit the dirt: To drop quickly to the ground, especially to avoid danger.
  • When they heard the explosion, everyone hit the dirt.

Related Idioms

• As common as dirt: Very ordinary or low-class.
  • He thought her tastes in music were as common as dirt.
• To eat dirt: To be forced to accept a humiliating defeat or insult.
  • After his lies were exposed, he had to eat dirt and apologize.

Adjective

1. (of roads) not leveled or drained; unsuitable for all year travel

Noun

1. disgraceful gossip about the private lives of other people
2. obscene terms for feces
3. the state of being covered with unclean things
4. the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock