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squalor

[ skwol-er, skwaw-ler ]

/ ˈskwɒl ər, ˈskwɔ lər /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR squalor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the condition of being squalid; filth and misery.

Origin of squalor

1615–25; < Latin squālor dirtiness, equivalent to squāl(ēre) to be dirty, encrusted + -or -or¹

SYNONYMS FOR squalor

wretchedness.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR squalor ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR squalor

splendor.

SEE ANTONYMS FOR squalor ON THESAURUS.COM

Words nearby squalor

squalene, squalid, squall, squall line, squally, squalor, squam-, squama, squamate, squamation, squamiform

Example sentences from the Web for squalor

The overcrowded school where the family had sought refuge was a scene of despair and squalor.

Under American Bombs in Gaza |Jesse Rosenfeld |August 4, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Money means more to you than just status or new toys; it is freedom, a way out of squalor for both you and your family.

Baby, You’re a Rich Man: Mohsin Hamid’s New Novel |Nicholas Mancusi |March 6, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
So it is with Just Send Me Word, a heroic love story amid the squalor and degradation of the Gulag.

‘Just Send Me Word’ by Orlando Figes: Life and Love in the Gulag |Owen Matthews |June 10, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
The once handsome young man was unrecognizable in his squalor.

This Week's Hot Reads |The Daily Beast |February 7, 2011 |DAILY BEAST

These are people defined not by their public selves but by the pettiness, chaos, and squalor of their interior ones.

Franzen Frenzy! |Lizzie Skurnick |August 31, 2010 |DAILY BEAST
Yes, all the squalor of the business of domesticity must be hidden from this splendid being!

Hilda Lessways |Arnold Bennett
Since she had been under this roof she had grown ashamed of the squalor and starvation and wretchedness of her past existence.

The Waters of Edera |Louise de la Rame, a.k.a. Ouida
Wouldn't it be better than the cold and squalor of the streets and these wild dances before unsympathetic eyes?

One of My Sons |Anna Katharine Green
The poor foreign-speaking areas in large cities, where immigrants live huddled together in squalor, should be broken up.

Applied Eugenics |Paul Popenoe and Roswell Hill Johnson
The foundations upon which its dark bulk reared itself were ignorance, squalor, brutality and vice.

The Damnation of Theron Ware |Harold Frederic

British Dictionary definitions for squalor

squalor

/ (ˈskwɒlə) /

noun

the condition or quality of being squalid; disgusting dirt and filth

Word Origin for squalor

C17: from Latin