English Explanatory Dictionary

lowdown

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. inside information, the story or truth.
  2. A lowlife, a despicable person.
adj
  1. Unfair; scoundrelly; shameful.
  2. seedy, sketchy, disreputable
  3. down low; purporting to be heterosexual while engaged in sex with men.
adv
  1. Unfairly; dishonourably; in a deceitful or mean manner.

Word forms

lowdown low-down low down more lowdown most lowdown

Etymology

Compound adjective of low + down in the sense of "humble" recorded in the 1540s, in the sense of "vulgar, far down the social scale" in 1888. Recorded as a noun in 1915 in the slang sense of secret or inside information.

Synonyms

scoop dirt dope straight dope poop
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