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miteux

shabby, seedy

adjective mee-TUH Rare

Usage Note

Miteux describes a place or thing that is run-down, dingy, and pitiful-looking. It carries a note of contempt or pity. The feminine form is miteuse. It comes from mite (clothes moth), evoking something moth-eaten and deteriorated. Un hôtel miteux is a flophouse; une tenue miteuse is shabby clothing.

Examples

"Ils vivaient dans un appartement miteux."

Natural Translation

They lived in a shabby apartment.

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