Definition of NASTY

nasty

Plural: nasties

Adjective

  • Offensive or unpleasant to the senses; very disagreeable.
  • offensive or even (of persons) malicious; ; ; ; ; ; - Ezra Pound
    • "in a nasty mood"
    • "a nasty accident"
    • "a nasty shock"
    • "a nasty smell"
    • "a nasty trick to pull"
    • "Will he say nasty things at my funeral?"

Adjective Satellite

  • exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent
    • "a nasty problem"
  • characterized by obscenity
  • disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter
    • "a nasty pigsty of a room"

Adj

  • Dirty, filthy.
  • Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person).
  • Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive.
  • Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd.
  • Spiteful, unkind.
  • Awkward, difficult to navigate; dangerous.
  • Grave or dangerous (of an accident, illness etc.).
  • Formidable, terrific; wicked.

Noun

  • Something that is offensive or unpleasant.
  • Something nasty.
  • Sexual intercourse.
  • A video nasty.

Examples

  • Leaving too many vowels on your rack can lead to a nasty game of Words With Friends.
  • Playing a nasty to block an opponent’s triple word score is a valid Scrabble strategy.
  • Processed foods are full of aspartame and other nasties.
  • This video game involves flying through a maze zapping various nasties.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English nasty, nasti, naxty, naxte (“unclean, filthy”), whence also Early Modern English nasky (“nasty”), of obscure origin. Probably from earlier Middle English *naskty, *naskedy, from Middle English *nasked (“dirty, messy”) + -y, ultimately of North Germanic origin (comparable to Danish nasket (“dirty, foul, unpleasant”), Swedish naskot (“dirty, filthy”), Swedish naskig, naskug (“nasty, dirty, messy”)), themselves all probably related to Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“tender, soft”). Likely doublet of nesh and nosh. Cognate with Scots nastie, nestie (“dirty, filthy”).
Alternative theories have also been proposed, which include:
* From Low German nask (“nasty”) + -y.
* Middle Dutch nestich, nistich ("nasty, dirty, unpleasant" > Modern Dutch nestig (“dirty, filthy, unclean; lazy, cranky”)), perhaps ultimately connected to the Scandinavian word above, or related to *nest (“nest”).
* From Old French nastre (“lowly, strange”), shortened form of villenastre (“infamous, bad”), from vilein (“villain”) + -astre (pejorative suffix), from Latin -aster.
* Other suggestions include Old High German naz (“wet”), hardening of English nesh(y) (“soft”), or alteration of English naughty.
* Modern use of the word is sometimes attributed to the popular and often derogatory 19th century American political cartoons of Thomas Nast, but the word predates him.

Antonyms

nice

Scrabble Score: 8

nasty: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
nasty: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
nasty: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

nasty: valid Words With Friends Word