"lowdown" meaning in All languages combined

See lowdown on Wiktionary

Adjective [English]

Forms: more lowdown [comparative], most lowdown [superlative]
Etymology: Compound adjective of low + down in the sense of "humble" recorded in the 1540s, in the sense of "vulgar, far down the social scale" in 1888. Recorded as a noun in 1915 in the slang sense of secret or inside information. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|low|down}} low + down Head templates: {{en-adj}} lowdown (comparative more lowdown, superlative most lowdown)
  1. Unfair; scoundrelly; shameful.
    Sense id: en-lowdown-en-adj-J8x-3eaZ
  2. seedy, sketchy, disreputable
    Sense id: en-lowdown-en-adj-4q0eBmy2
  3. down low; purporting to be heterosexual while engaged in sex with men.
    Sense id: en-lowdown-en-adj-RO7sSt-~
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: low-down

Noun [English]

Etymology: Compound adjective of low + down in the sense of "humble" recorded in the 1540s, in the sense of "vulgar, far down the social scale" in 1888. Recorded as a noun in 1915 in the slang sense of secret or inside information. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|low|down}} low + down Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} lowdown (uncountable)
  1. inside information, the story or truth. Tags: uncountable Synonyms: scoop, dirt, dope, straight dope, poop Translations (the whole truth): 真相 (zhēnxiàng) (Chinese Mandarin), 內幕 (Chinese Mandarin), 内幕 (nèimù) (Chinese Mandarin), holá pravda [feminine] (Czech), historie [common-gender] (Danish), Fakten [plural] (German), Infos [plural] (German), Informationen [plural] (German), értesülés (Hungarian), füles (Hungarian), 真相 (shinsō) (alt: しんそう) (Japanese), 内幕 (alt: うちまく, uchimaku, ないまく, naimaku) (Japanese), revelação (Portuguese), подного́тная (podnogótnaja) [feminine] (Russian), подоплёка (podopljóka) [feminine] (Russian), içyüz (Turkish)
    Sense id: en-lowdown-en-noun-bkwW52ME Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 20 1 16 61 2 Disambiguation of 'the whole truth': 94 6
  2. A lowlife, a despicable person. Tags: uncountable
    Sense id: en-lowdown-en-noun--pYA3kat
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: low-down

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for lowdown meaning in All languages combined (5.6kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "low",
        "3": "down"
      },
      "expansion": "low + down",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Compound adjective of low + down in the sense of \"humble\" recorded in the 1540s, in the sense of \"vulgar, far down the social scale\" in 1888. Recorded as a noun in 1915 in the slang sense of secret or inside information.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "lowdown (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "20 1 16 61 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "All the reporters hoped to be the first to get the lowdown on the celebrity's marriage plans.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "here's the lowdown",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "to give somebody the lowdown",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "inside information, the story or truth."
      ],
      "id": "en-lowdown-en-noun-bkwW52ME",
      "links": [
        [
          "inside information",
          "inside information"
        ],
        [
          "story",
          "story"
        ],
        [
          "truth",
          "truth"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "scoop"
        },
        {
          "word": "dirt"
        },
        {
          "word": "dope"
        },
        {
          "word": "straight dope"
        },
        {
          "word": "poop"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "zhēnxiàng",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "word": "真相"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "word": "內幕"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "nèimù",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "word": "内幕"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "holá pravda"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "historie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "tags": [
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "Fakten"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "tags": [
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "Infos"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "tags": [
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "Informationen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "word": "értesülés"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "word": "füles"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "alt": "しんそう",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "shinsō",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "word": "真相"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "alt": "うちまく, uchimaku, ないまく, naimaku",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "word": "内幕"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "word": "revelação"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "podnogótnaja",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "подного́тная"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "podopljóka",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "подоплёка"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "the whole truth",
          "word": "içyüz"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A lowlife, a despicable person."
      ],
      "id": "en-lowdown-en-noun--pYA3kat",
      "links": [
        [
          "lowlife",
          "lowlife"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "low-down"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lowdown"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "low",
        "3": "down"
      },
      "expansion": "low + down",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Compound adjective of low + down in the sense of \"humble\" recorded in the 1540s, in the sense of \"vulgar, far down the social scale\" in 1888. Recorded as a noun in 1915 in the slang sense of secret or inside information.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more lowdown",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most lowdown",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lowdown (comparative more lowdown, superlative most lowdown)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "lowdown tactics",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Unfair; scoundrelly; shameful."
      ],
      "id": "en-lowdown-en-adj-J8x-3eaZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "Unfair",
          "unfair"
        ],
        [
          "scoundrelly",
          "scoundrelly"
        ],
        [
          "shameful",
          "shameful"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1988 August 20, Chris Reed, “The English 'Strip-tique'”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 6, page 11",
          "text": "So there I was, in the front row of course (it was my reportorial duty), with a bunch of gay men and straight women. And we're all involved in a lowdown — but eminently \"Safe\" — celebration of the erotic possibilities of the male body.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Ivan Webster, The Cares of the Day, University of Alabama Press, page 28",
          "text": "Some kinda way, he talked Aunt Fanny into running off with him that night. When they got as far as Kansas City, he was through with her. They stayed in some lowdown kinda hotel in the colored section there', and after that they were headed God knows where.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "seedy, sketchy, disreputable"
      ],
      "id": "en-lowdown-en-adj-4q0eBmy2",
      "links": [
        [
          "seedy",
          "seedy"
        ],
        [
          "sketchy",
          "sketchy"
        ],
        [
          "disreputable",
          "disreputable"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "down low; purporting to be heterosexual while engaged in sex with men."
      ],
      "id": "en-lowdown-en-adj-RO7sSt-~",
      "links": [
        [
          "down low",
          "down low"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "low-down"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lowdown"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English compound terms",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "low",
        "3": "down"
      },
      "expansion": "low + down",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Compound adjective of low + down in the sense of \"humble\" recorded in the 1540s, in the sense of \"vulgar, far down the social scale\" in 1888. Recorded as a noun in 1915 in the slang sense of secret or inside information.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "lowdown (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "All the reporters hoped to be the first to get the lowdown on the celebrity's marriage plans.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "here's the lowdown",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "to give somebody the lowdown",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "inside information, the story or truth."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "inside information",
          "inside information"
        ],
        [
          "story",
          "story"
        ],
        [
          "truth",
          "truth"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "scoop"
        },
        {
          "word": "dirt"
        },
        {
          "word": "dope"
        },
        {
          "word": "straight dope"
        },
        {
          "word": "poop"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A lowlife, a despicable person."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "lowlife",
          "lowlife"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "low-down"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "zhēnxiàng",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "word": "真相"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "word": "內幕"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "nèimù",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "word": "内幕"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "holá pravda"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "historie"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "Fakten"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "Infos"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "Informationen"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "word": "értesülés"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "word": "füles"
    },
    {
      "alt": "しんそう",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "shinsō",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "word": "真相"
    },
    {
      "alt": "うちまく, uchimaku, ないまく, naimaku",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "word": "内幕"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "word": "revelação"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "podnogótnaja",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "подного́тная"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "podopljóka",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "подоплёка"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "the whole truth",
      "word": "içyüz"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lowdown"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English compound terms",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "low",
        "3": "down"
      },
      "expansion": "low + down",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Compound adjective of low + down in the sense of \"humble\" recorded in the 1540s, in the sense of \"vulgar, far down the social scale\" in 1888. Recorded as a noun in 1915 in the slang sense of secret or inside information.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more lowdown",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most lowdown",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lowdown (comparative more lowdown, superlative most lowdown)",
      "name": "en-adj"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "lowdown tactics",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Unfair; scoundrelly; shameful."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Unfair",
          "unfair"
        ],
        [
          "scoundrelly",
          "scoundrelly"
        ],
        [
          "shameful",
          "shameful"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1988 August 20, Chris Reed, “The English 'Strip-tique'”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 6, page 11",
          "text": "So there I was, in the front row of course (it was my reportorial duty), with a bunch of gay men and straight women. And we're all involved in a lowdown — but eminently \"Safe\" — celebration of the erotic possibilities of the male body.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Ivan Webster, The Cares of the Day, University of Alabama Press, page 28",
          "text": "Some kinda way, he talked Aunt Fanny into running off with him that night. When they got as far as Kansas City, he was through with her. They stayed in some lowdown kinda hotel in the colored section there', and after that they were headed God knows where.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "seedy, sketchy, disreputable"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "seedy",
          "seedy"
        ],
        [
          "sketchy",
          "sketchy"
        ],
        [
          "disreputable",
          "disreputable"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "down low; purporting to be heterosexual while engaged in sex with men."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "down low",
          "down low"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "low-down"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lowdown"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.