cesspool

[ ses-pool ]

/ ˈsɛsˌpul /

a cistern, well, or pit for retaining the sediment of a drain or for receiving the sewage from a house.

any filthy receptacle or place.

any place of moral filth or immorality: a cesspool of iniquity.

Origin of cesspool

1575–85; cess (< Italian cesso privy < Latin rēcessus recess, place of retirement) + pool¹

On another, more macro level, did you find Europe to be such a cesspool of intrigue?

How The Cold War Endgame Played Out In The Rubble Of The Berlin Wall |William O’Connor |November 9, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The vote on Sunday could take Ukraine toward a modern functioning democracy or plunge it back into a cesspool of corruption.

Ukraine’s Wild and Wooly Elections |Anna Nemtsova |October 24, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
It allows me to stomach the pathetic shenanigans of the cesspool of Washington, D.C.

Roland Martin: America, You Can’t Handle the Truth! |Roland S. Martin |January 19, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
In the cesspool of cynicism that is Indian politics, we thought his train ride struck a blow instead for a degree of idealism.

How Rahul Gandhi Blew the Indian Rape Crisis |Dilip D’Souza |January 19, 2013 |DAILY BEAST

It's perpetuating a cesspool on Facebook for those who would perpetuate real world violence and rape.

Should Facebook Ban Sexist Pages? |Jessica Bennett |November 5, 2011 |DAILY BEAST
It seems, in fact, to be a sort of horrible beast made for the night which has just been torn from its cesspool.

Les Misrables |Victor Hugo
It's possible to live; but you want brains and a lot of cleverness in order not to sit down in the cesspool at once.

Mother |Maksim Gorky
If a giant had filtered this cesspool, he would have had the riches of centuries in his lair.

Les Misrables |Victor Hugo
We picked our way back to the fire, avoiding the dung-heap and pig-stye, whereby we nearly fell into a cesspool.

The Luck of Thirteen |Jan Gordon
At the lower end of the trough have a waste pipe which runs into a cesspool.

Campward Ho! |Unknown

cesspool

/ (ˈsɛsˌpuːl) /

Also called: sink, sump a covered cistern, etc, for collecting and storing sewage or waste water

a filthy or corrupt place a cesspool of iniquity

C17: changed (through influence of pool 1) from earlier cesperalle, from Old French souspirail vent, air, from soupirer to sigh; see suspire