From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishnastynas‧ty /ˈnɑːsti $ ˈnæsti/ ●●●S2 adjective (comparative nastier, superlative nastiest)1behaviourUNKIND nasty behaviour or remarks are extremely unkind and unpleasant
a nasty temper
the nasty things that were being written about her
There’s a nasty streak in her character.
Drivers often have a nasty habit of driving too close to cyclists.nasty to
Don’t be so nasty to your mum (=do not treat her unkindly).get/turn nasty especially British English (=suddenly start behaving in a threatening way)
When Harry refused, Don turned nasty and went for him with both fists.► see thesaurus at unkind2person someone who is nasty behaves in an unkind and unpleasant way
I went to school with him – he was nasty then and he’s nasty now.
You’re a nasty little brute!3experience/situationUNPLEASANT a nasty experience, feeling, or situation is unpleasantnasty shock/surprise
It gave me a nasty shock.nasty feeling/suspicion
I had a nasty feeling that a tragedy was going to happen.
Life has a nasty habit of repeating itself.
He had a nasty accident while riding in the forest.
When you feel you’ve been cheated, it always leaves a nasty taste in the mouth (=makes you feel upset or angry afterwards).
The weather turned nasty towards the evening.4sight/smell etcCUNPLEASANT having a bad appearance, smell, taste etc
What’s that nasty smell?
a market stall selling cheap and nasty watches► see thesaurus at horrible5injury/illnessHARM/BE BAD FORsevere or very painful
a nasty cut
He was carried off the field with a nasty injury.6substance a nasty substance is dangerous
nasty chemicals7 →a nasty piece of work —nastily adverb —nastiness noun [uncountable] →video nastyExamples from the Corpusnasty• Anyway, after seven years, people get nasty.• Some resisted, and for a time things got nasty.• I'd avoid him. if I were you. He can be quite nasty.• Cheapperfume often smells nasty after a couple of hours.• I'm not very keen on this wine. It has a nastyaftertaste.• Soon after he joined Rangers he was involved in a nasty and bitterdismissal, sacking the club's long standing groundsman.• Line play is nasty, brutal and hurtful.• I don't mean to be nasty, but I don't think we should work together any more.• A few days later, Brian had a nasty case of poisonoak.• Their marriage ended in a nastydivorce.• I'm so glad you didn't get that nastyflu, Joan.• Strachan was carried off with what looked like a nastyinjury.• I thought they would come to school and write nastyletters and stuff.• Don't let that nasty old dog come up here.• It's prettynastyoutside - they're expectingfreezingrain.• My first boss was a really nasty person, who seemed to enjoy making life difficult for everyone.• These lads were the blunt end of a much nastier problem.• I just heard a nasty rumor about Jill.• a nastysense of humor• The scrubbing was the nastiest, she thought despairingly, bad though blacking the grates, particularly the kitchenrange, was.• The news of his death came as a very nastyshock.• Police were alerted when neighbors complained of a nasty smell coming from the basement.• His mouthtwisted into a nastysnarl.• Stacy said he was really nasty to her.• Some of the older boys were being very nasty to him.• Paul, you mustn't be nasty to the children. You'll make them cry.nasty habit• Appraisalschemes have a nasty habit of becoming complex and over sophisticated.• It is a simple enough message but one which has a nasty habit of being forgotten when companies decide to shedstaff.• Both subscriptions cost about £800 per year and both have the nasty habit of being so voluminous as to go largely unread.• Although an attractiveaddition to a tank, it has a nasty habit of fighting with members of its own species.• Yet unlikelyfigures often have a nasty habit of turning out to be true.nasty little• The nastiest littleattack we endured at this time came from, of all papers, the Lancet.• Now go away, you nasty littlebrat.• A very large part of it is due to a nasty littlebug called phylloxera.• Knock it senseless every hour when it raised its fanged head and decided to sharpen its nasty littleclaws.• Ooh, there's a nasty little idea.• There crawled into my mind one nasty little question that I'd been fighting off till now.• When I was a teen-ager, a group of friends and I made a nasty littlesport out of belittling one another.nasty shock/surprise• But when you get hold of the document and look at the detail you're in for a nasty surprise.• Naturally, the tricky business of welding the Germanies together could still bring nasty surprises.• Next April's councilelections could prove a nasty shock.• There were rarely any nasty surprises.• Give them a nasty shock; a surprise which is going to put you one step ahead before things have even started.• What furthernasty surprisesawaited me that day?• I'd have got a nasty shock otherwise.cheap and nasty• The sunroof looks cheap and nasty.• The Melrose may be the cheap end of the market, but it isn't the cheap and nasty end.• They were watch boxes, cheap and nasty, the kindsold in filling-stations.• He says it's a cheap and nasty way of administeringjustice in this country.Originnasty(1300-1400) Perhaps from a Scandinavian language
