Meaning & use
pigsty room
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableinformaldisapproving
A room that is extremely dirty or untidy, as if animals live there.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a pigsty room' or 'pigsty rooms'. 'Pigsty' alone can also mean a messy room.
Patterns
- a pigsty room
- live in a pigsty room
- call something a pigsty room
His bedroom was a pigsty room, with clothes and food wrappers everywhere.
I can't invite anyone over when my apartment looks like a pigsty room.
After the party, the living room was a complete pigsty room.
Word forms
| plural | pigsty rooms |
|---|
Common combinations
- a complete pigsty room
- After the kids played inside, the den was a complete pigsty room.
- look like a pigsty room
- The dorm looked like a pigsty room after the weekend.
- call a room a pigsty
- My mother would call my room a pigsty if she saw it now.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mess
- A mess is a general word for untidiness; pigsty room is stronger and suggests disgust.
- dump
- A dump is a dirty or unpleasant place, often used for a whole building; pigsty room is specifically a room and focuses on mess.
- shambles
- A shambles is a state of complete disorder; pigsty room is more literal and concrete.
Opposites
Word family
- pigsty noun
- A place where pigs are kept, or informally a very messy room or house.
- pigpen noun
- American word for a pigsty; also used informally for a messy place.
Commonly confused: pigsty room or pigsty?
pigsty room vs pigsty
Pigsty alone can mean the same as pigsty room when talking about a messy room; adding 'room' just makes it more specific.
Practice
After the children's art project, the kitchen was ______.
Choose one answer.
We need a countable noun phrase with an article: 'a pigsty room' fits. 'Pigsty' alone is also possible in informal British English, but the phrase 'pigsty room' is the headword here and needs 'a' to be grammatical in this sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pigsty room”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.