dingy

Everyday

1. Dark, dull and dirty-looking; not bright or clean: a dingy room. tree →
2. Of colours: faded and dull, not fresh. tree →

In the lessons

Used in stories to set a gloomy scene: a dingy attic, a dingy cellar, a dingy street. It tells the reader a place is shabby and unpleasant. Toad's prison cell is dark and dingy.

Examples

• The dingy room had one small window. tree →
• Toad was locked in a dingy dungeon. tree →
• Her white socks had gone dingy and grey. tree →
• We painted the dingy kitchen bright yellow. tree →
• The shop was dingy but full of treasures. tree →
• They walked down a dingy back street. tree →
• The curtains looked dingy and old. tree →
• A dingy light came through the dusty glass. tree →
• Instead of dingy velveteen he had brown fur, soft and shiny, his ears twitched by themselves, and his whiskers were so long that they brushed the grass. tree →

Note

Say «DIN-jee» (soft g). Do not confuse with «dinghy» (a small boat), said «DING-ee». Comparative: dingier, dingiest.