drossy

A blacksmith removes drossy slag from the molten metal in his forge.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Containing dross: "drossy" describes something that contains waste matter, impurities, or scum, especially from melted metal.
   • Worthless or impure: By extension, it refers to something that is of low quality, valueless, or contaminated with undesirable elements.

Usage Examples

• (The layer contained waste impurities from the metal.)
• (The arguments were worthless and impure in reasoning.)
• (The junk was trashy and without value.)

Advanced Usage

• "drossy material": waste or scoria from industrial processes.
  • The mining company disposed of the drossy material in a designated landfill. (The waste from ore processing.)
• "drossy character": a person considered contemptible or morally impure.
  • She refused to associate with such a drossy character. (A person of low moral worth.)

Variants and Related Words

• Dross (n): waste matter, scum, or impurities, especially from melted metal; also, something worthless.
  • The dross was skimmed off the surface of the molten gold. (The impurities.)
• Drossiness (n): the state or quality of being drossy.
  • The drossiness of the product made it unsuitable for sale. (The impurity or worthlessness.)

Synonyms

• Impure: containing unwanted substances; not clean or pure.
• Worthless: having no real value or use.
• Scummy: covered with or resembling scum; of low quality.
• Vile: extremely unpleasant or morally bad.

Related Idioms

• "Separate the dross from the gold": to distinguish valuable things from worthless ones.
  • The editor had to separate the dross from the gold in the manuscript. (Remove the poor-quality parts to keep the good writing.)