From the urban musical genre called grime.
It’s a beautiful day in this grungy, grimy city.
New Evil Dead trailer has my least favorite modern horror trope that Red Letter Media points out all the time: Living in a house that is grimy and looks like a haunted house. It's so dumb! I hate it!
Untrustworthy, shady, deceitful. Stronger than "shady"; often applied to people who'll betray you. Distinct from the literal "dirty" sense.
"That was a grimy move."
Add your own interpretation of "grimy".
Slang from Black American Vernacular English (AAVE), hip-hop, drag and ballroom culture, the Caribbean, and NYC street vocabulary. The single largest source of new mainstream English slang in living memory.
See all Black culture & AAVE slang on Slangora.
Browse all slang words starting with G.
Dirty, unwashed, unclean.
(figurative) Disreputable, sordid.
Low key grimy describes someone who presents as chill and trustworthy on the surface but quietly moves in sneaky, dishonest ways when no one's watching. They never make loud declarations of shadiness — they just slowly, subtly do you dirty. It's the passive-aggressive cousin of full grimy energy: the person who'll steal your client, slide into your DMs behind your back, or undercut you at work while smiling to your face. The 'low key' signals it's easy to miss until the damage is already done.
wip of my favorite sex worker, Grimy 😈🚽 #art #mine #cryptid #he/they #sexwork #furryartist #grimy #wip #gofollowhim #grimygrimygrimy
“It’s a beautiful day in this grungy, grimy city.”
“New Evil Dead trailer has my least favorite modern horror trope that Red Letter Media points out all the time: Living in a house that is grimy and looks like a haunted house. It's so dumb! I hate it!”
“wip of my favorite sex worker, Grimy 😈🚽 #art #mine #cryptid #he/they #sexwork #furryartist #grimy #wip #gofollowhim #grimygrimygrimy”
“fungal rock would go hard as a genre dirty and grimy but also airy and earthy”
“very different vibe, less high protocol and more grimy and outdoorsy, also if the paw lines got cleaned off i have 2 redraw them lol”
From the urban musical genre called grime.
Morally corrupt, malicious, vile, or selfish; base or dirty; rotten.
“2. **[^](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grimy_Awards#cite_ref-2 "Jump up")**Dart, Chris (February 26, 2013). ["Ill Bill The Grimy Awards \| Exclaim!"](https://exclaim.ca/music/article/ill_bill-grimy_awards). _[Exclaim!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclaim!”
“Weisskopf"), _Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood_ (August House, 1995). - Pifer, Lynn."Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood." review of book by Sherman and Weisskopf).”
Stained or covered with grime.
"grimy" means stained or covered with grime. It is one of many casual words teens pick up from friends, social media, music or sport, and on its own it carries no particular warning. If you hear your teen use it, it is fair to ask what they mean by it in their friend group, since meanings drift quickly. Asking out of curiosity rather than alarm tends to keep the conversation open and useful.
"grimy" is informal English meaning stained or covered with grime. It is used widely across English varieties. A more formal or neutral equivalent would be something like "stained or covered with grime" expressed in standard vocabulary. A common mistake is to assume "grimy" can replace its standard equivalent in every register; keep it for spoken or casual situations and use the formal form in writing. If you are a B2 or C1 learner, it is useful to recognise this word when you hear or read it, but think carefully about whether the situation really calls for it before using it yourself.
Of a beat or song, darkly atmospheric; having affinities with the style of the of the , especially that of New York.