Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

get one's hands dirty

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.12 in modern English

Syllables: get one's hand-s dirty
IPA

26

Scrabble Score

17

Letters

2

Syllables

12

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To get involved with the unpleasant parts of a task, such as manual labor or unethical activities.

Example Sentences

"If you expect to seal up every possible source of draftiness, you'll have to get your hands dirty — there will be some kneeling and crawling involved."
"He doesn't get his hands dirty — that's what the henchmen and the plausible deniability are for."

Inflected Forms

gets one's hands dirty (present, singular) getting one's hands dirty (participle, present) got one's hands dirty (past) got one's hands dirty (UK, participle) gotten one's hands dirty (US, participle)

Phrases

dirty-handed dirty work wash one's hands of the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet

Frequently Paired Words

dirty-handed dirty work wash one's hands of the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet

Questions

What does get one's hands dirty mean?: To get involved with the unpleasant parts of a task, such as manual labor or unethical activities.

How to pronounce get one's hands dirty

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