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Antonyms for foul

Grammar : Adj, noun, verb
Spell : foul
Phonetic Transcription : faÊŠl

Definition of foul

Origin :
  • Old English ful "rotten, unclean, vile, corrupt, offensive to the senses," from Proto-Germanic *fulaz (cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian ful, Middle Dutch voul, Dutch vuil, Old High German fül, German faul, Gothic füls), from root *fu-, corresponding to PIE *pu-, perhaps from the sound made in reaction to smelling something bad (cf. Sanskrit puyati "rots, stinks," putih "foul, rotten;" Greek puon "discharge from a sore;" Latin pus "putrid matter," putere "to stink," putridus "rotten;" Lithuanian puviu "to rot").
  • Old English ful occasionally meant "ugly" (as contrasted with fæger (adj.), modern fair (adj.)), a sense frequently found in Middle English, and the cognate in Swedish is the usual word for "ugly." Of weather, first recorded late 14c. In the sporting sense of "irregular, unfair" it is first attested 1797, though foul play is recorded from mid-15c. Baseball sense of "out of play" attested by 1860. Foulmart was a Middle English word for "polecat" (from Old English mearð "marten").
  • adj disgusting, dirty
  • adj vulgar, offensive
  • adj corrupt, dishonest
  • noun infraction
  • verb make or become dirty
Example sentences :
  • On that foul throng that wrought them wrong—on Jury and on Judge!
  • Extract from : « Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327 » by Various
  • "Streams may spring from one source, and yet some be clear and some be foul," quoth she quickly.
  • Extract from : « The White Company » by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • What did you, then, when you snatched her from her home by some foul trick?
  • Extract from : « Fair Margaret » by H. Rider Haggard
  • That was, in fact, the only blot on his father's honour—a foul and grave blot it was.
  • Extract from : « Night and Morning, Complete » by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  • A ship big enough to carry two in fair weather, but only one in foul.
  • Extract from : « The Devil's Dictionary » by Ambrose Bierce
  • They no more wanted to be touched by iron than by filth, or foul disease.
  • Extract from : « Welsh Fairy Tales » by William Elliott Griffis
  • And how warm and pleasant the place was throughout the foul winter weather!
  • Extract from : « The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete » by Emile Zola
  • On the night in question, Mattup was on a week's losing streak and was in a foul humor.
  • Extract from : « Goodbye, Dead Man! » by Tom W. Harris
  • "This is what love can be these days, foul as two pigs in a sty," said the harbor.
  • Extract from : « The Harbor » by Ernest Poole
  • Foul work somewhere, but, as always, it will be nobody's fault.
  • Extract from : « Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863 » by Adam Gurowski

Synonyms for foul

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019