nasty adj

1 offensive or even (of persons) malicious; "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?"- Ezra Pound [syn: awful] [ant: nice]

2 exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent; "a nasty problem"; "a good man to have on your side in a tight situation" [syn: tight]

3 thoroughly unpleasant; "filthy (or foul or nasty or vile) weather we're having" [syn: filthy, foul, vile]

4 characterized by obscenity; "had a filthy mouth"; "foul language"; "smutty jokes" [syn: filthy, foul, smutty]

5 disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter; "as filthy as a pigsty"; "a foul pond"; "a nasty pigsty of a room" [syn: filthy, foul] [also: nastiest, nastier]

English

Etymology

Unknown. Theories include:

• Old French nastre = "bad, strange", shortened form of villenastre ="infamous, bad", from vilein = "villain" + -astre (pejorative suffix, from Latin -aster).
• Dutch nestig = "dirty", literally "like a bird's nest".
• Old High German naz = "wet"
• Likely reinforced by a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish dialect naskug = "dirty, nasty").
• A hardened form of an old word "neshy" = "soft".
• Modern usage of the word "nasty" is sometimes attributed to the very popular but often derogatory 19th Century American political cartoons of Thomas Nast.

Pronunciation

• (RP)
  • /ˈnɑː.sti/
• • Rhymes with: -ɑːsti
• (AusE)
  • /ˈnaː.sti/
  • Rhymes with: -ɑːsti
• (GenAm)
  • /ˈnæs.ti/
  • Rhymes with: -æsti

Adjective

1. disgusting; physically repellent
2. indecent or offensive
3. malicious or spiteful

   He tells nasty lies.

4. very unpleasant

   It was a nasty night to venture out.

5. grave or dangerous

   The cyclist had a nasty accident.

Noun

1. something nasty

Related terms

• video nasty
• do the nasty

Nasty could mean any of these:-

• A word to describe something bad or disgusting
• "Nasty (song)": a song by Janet Jackson
• Nasty, Hertfordshire, a village in Hertfordshire, England
• Nasty (cat), Books on Tape's cat.
• Common pronunciation of the popular web site Naaaasty, at http://www.naaaasty.com

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