foulsome

comparative more foulsome · superlative most foulsome

1. Characterised or marked by foulness or filth; filthy; (by extension) wretched.

   The lead seals confining the liquefying body of the former king were not secure and foulsome black ooze seeped from one edge.

   2011, Elizabeth Chadwick, Lady of the English

   4 more examples

   “Hah. And a good thing it is that you have. It's almost time for us to leave this foulsome planet, and we'll be needing all the help we can muster.” “It's not a foulsome planet!” Rita snapped.

   1983, Ben Bova, Gremlins Go Home

   Manure thus becomes a symbol of the alchemy effected by divine grace, which is capable of transforming something odious and foulsome into something beautiful and glorious, thus making us meritorious of heavenly reward: [...]

   1998, A. Jesuraja, Glimpses of the Divine

   This made for an even more “foulsome, suffocating abode.” Men lay in swaying canvas hammocks, or packed side by side on the floor, scratching at omnipresent lice and breathing fetid air reeking of unwashed bodies and rank breath.

   2009, Diana Preston, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind

   In particular, speakers most elaborately characterized the interjection chix, which indexes foulsome things, the interjection uyaluy, which indexes dangerous things, and the interjection ay, when it indexes painful events.

   2010, Paul Kockelman, Language, Culture, and Mind