Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Spoiled and covered with eggs and larvae of flies: Describes something, especially food, that is rotten and contaminated by flies.
   • Foul, run-down, and repulsive: Describes a place or thing that is dirty, neglected, and in a state of decay.
   • Especially of reputation: Describes a reputation that is tarnished, corrupt, or morally degraded.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The butcher had to discard the flyblown meat. (The meat was rotten and covered with fly eggs.)
  • They met in a flyblown bar on the outskirts of the city. (The bar was dirty, neglected, and repulsive.)
  • The scandal left him with a flyblown reputation. (His reputation was tarnished and morally corrupt.)

Advanced Usage

• Figurative use for abstract concepts: While primarily describing physical decay, "flyblown" is powerfully used to describe non-physical things that are considered morally or aesthetically corrupt.
  • The flyblown ideals of the regime were rejected by the youth. (The regime's ideals were seen as corrupt and degraded.)

Variants and Related Words

• Flyblow (verb, archaic): To deposit eggs or larvae on, to taint.
• Maggoty (adjective): Infested with or full of maggots.
  • a sack of maggoty apricots

Synonyms

• Squalid: Dirty and unpleasant, especially from poverty or neglect.
• Sordid: Involving ignoble actions and motives; arousing moral distaste and contempt.
• Fetid: Smelling extremely unpleasant.
• Decayed: Having rotted or decomposed.
• Tarnished: Lost brightness or became stained, especially of reputation.

Antonyms

• Pristine: In its original condition; unspoiled.
• Immaculate: Perfectly clean, neat, or tidy.
• Untarnished: Not diminished or damaged in purity, value, or reputation.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• None directly using "flyblown": The word itself is quite specific and graphic, often serving as a powerful descriptor within a sentence rather than part of a common idiom.

Adjective

1. especially of reputation
   • a flyblown reputation
2. foul and run-down and repulsive
   • a flyblown bar on the edge of town
   • a squalid overcrowded apartment in the poorest part of town
   • squalid living conditions
   • sordid shantytowns
3. spoiled and covered with eggs and larvae of flies
   • flyblown meat
   • a sack of maggoty apricots