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The word abject emphasizes a very bad situation or quality, thereby making it even worse.
When you perform your ablutions, you wash yourself; this can be part of a religious ceremony as well.
Affluence is the state of having a lot of money and many possessions, granting one a high economic standard of living.
When you bedeck something, you decorate it in a showy way.
Something is a blight if it spoils or damages things severely; blight is often used to describe something that ruins or kills crops.
A man who is dapper has a very neat and clean appearance; he is both fashionable and stylish.
When there is a dearth of something, there is a scarcity or lack of it.
A man who is debonair is sophisticated, charming, friendly, and confident.
Decrepitude is the state of being very old, worn out, or very ill; therefore, something or someone is no longer in good physical condition or good health.
Something, such as a building, is derelict if it is empty, not used, and in bad condition or disrepair.
If you say a person’s actions are despicable, you think they are extremely unpleasant or nasty.
A dilapidated building, vehicle, etc. is old, broken-down, and in very bad condition.
If you refer to the enormity of a situation, problem, or event, you mean that it is very evil or morally offensive; this word has nothing to do with physical size.
Fetid water or air has a bad odor, usually caused by decay.
Something that is immaculate is very clean, pure, or completely free from error.
Someone who is impecunious has very little money, especially over a long period of time.
Impoverished soil has been exhausted or drained of its nutrients.
An indigent person is very poor.
Something that has inestimable value or benefit has so much of it that it cannot be calculated.
Someone, such as a performer or athlete, is inimitable when they are so good or unique in their talent that it is unlikely anyone else can be their equal.
Something luxuriant, such as plants or hair, is growing well and is very healthy.
If something is noisome, it is extremely unpleasant, especially because it is very dirty or has an awful smell.
Something that is noxious is harmful, extremely unpleasant, and often poisonous.
If you describe people or things as odious, you think that they are extremely unpleasant.
Something that is opulent is very impressive, grand, and is made from expensive materials.
A paucity of something is not enough of it.
Pecuniary means relating to or concerning money.
Penury is the state of being extremely poor.
Something that is pristine has not lost any of its original perfection or purity.
If you suffer privation, you live without many of the basic things required for a comfortable life.
To purge something is to get rid of or remove it.
If you think a type of behavior or idea is reprehensible, you think that it is very bad, morally wrong, and deserves to be strongly criticized.
People or things that are resplendent are beautiful, bright, and impressive in appearance.
A salubrious place or area is pleasant, clean, healthy, and comfortable to live in.
A salutary experience is beneficial to you since it strengthens you in some way, although it may be unpleasant as you undergo it; this word also refers to promoting good health.
A slovenly person is untidy or messy.
An environment or character can be sordid—the former dirty, the latter low or base in an immoral or greedy sort of way.
To act in an uncouth manner is to be awkward and unmannerly.
An unkempt person or thing is untidy and has not been kept neat.
Noun
squalor
SKWOL-er
Context
Mill workers of nineteenth-century England often lived in harsh, unhealthy situations, full of squalor or dirtiness. Crowded lodgings held large, barely nourished families whose lives included disease, hunger, and filthy surroundings—all the conditions that go with squalor. Some mill owners addressed the squalor or unhealthy living conditions of these workers by paying livable wages, while others avoided the desperation around them by merely hiring new workers when other wretched employees died.
Quiz:Try again!
Which of the following quotes describes someone’s living in squalor?
“When I was poor living in a garage in Kansas I began to draw the mice that scampered over my desk."—Walt Disney
“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.”—Albert Einstein
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”—Martin Luther King, Jr.
PoorQuality The quality of life for those who live in squalor is very poor.
Examples
Thousands have spent four nights sleeping in the open under improvised shelters of reed stalks, blankets and salvaged tents. The Moria camp was built to house around 2,750 but overcrowding led to more than 12,500 people living in squalor, and had been held up by critics as a symbol of the European Union’s migration policy failings.
—
The Washington Post
"Grey Gardens" the documentary was a study in eccentricity and squalor on Long Island. Its subjects, faded socialites Edith Beale and her daughter, also named Edith Beale, once faced eviction by the county health department. Their 28-room house was full of trash and infested with vermin, with no running water—very out of place in the Hamptons.
—
NPR
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Word Constellation
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Related Words
abject ·
blight ·
dearth ·
decrepitude ·
derelict ·
despicable ·
dilapidated ·
enormity ·
fetid ·
impecunious ·
impoverished+ ·
indigent ·
noisome ·
noxious ·
odious ·
paucity ·
penury ·
privation ·
reprehensible ·
slovenly ·
sordid+ ·
uncouth ·
unkempt ·
ablution ·
affluence ·
bedeck ·
dapper ·
debonair ·
immaculate+ ·
inestimable ·
inimitable ·
luxuriant ·
opulent ·
pecuniary ·
pristine ·
purge+ ·
resplendent ·
salubrious ·
salutary ·
Similar sense
Opposite sense
Word Variants
squalid
adj
→
dirty
The section lists important variants and alternate definitions of the headword. Knowing variants will often help you both remember and understand the word. Not all variants are listed - only the ones we think that are important for you to know.
