Meaning & use
soiled
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Made dirty or stained, particularly by contact with mud, waste or something unclean.
Grammar: Goes before a noun or after a verb: soiled linens, the sheets were soiled.
Patterns
- soiled with something
- soiled by something
The nurse changed the soiled sheets quickly.
He handed over a pile of soiled laundry.
The soiled bandage was thrown away.
adjectivecomparablefigurativeformal
Spoiled in reputation or moral character by something improper.
Grammar: Figurative and fairly formal.
Patterns
- soiled by something
His name was soiled by the scandal.
She refused to have her honor soiled.
The company's reputation was soiled by the lawsuit.
verbtransitive
Simple past tense and past participle of soil: to make something dirty.
Grammar: Takes an object: he soiled his shirt.
Patterns
- soil something
The child soiled his shirt with paint.
She soiled her shoes in the mud.
The dog soiled the carpet.
Word forms
| base form | soil |
|---|---|
| third person singular | soils |
| -ing form | soiling |
Common combinations
- soiled linen
- The hotel collects soiled linen each morning.
- soiled clothes
- He put his soiled clothes in the washer.
- badly soiled
- The carpet was badly soiled after the party.
- soiled reputation
- A soiled reputation takes years to repair.
- soiled with mud
- The boots were soiled with mud.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dirty
- Dirty is the common everyday word, while soiled is somewhat more polite and used in hospitals and hotels.
- stained
- Stained means marked with a patch of color that may be hard to remove, while soiled means generally unclean.
- grubby
- Grubby is informal and suggests everyday grime, especially on hands and clothes.
- filthy
- Filthy is much stronger, meaning extremely dirty.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: soiled or spoiled?
soiled vs spoiled
Spoiled means ruined or gone bad, like spoiled food, whereas soiled means dirtied.
Practice
The hotel staff replaced the ______ towels with fresh ones.
Choose one answer.
Soiled towels are dirty and need replacing. Spoiled usually refers to food that has gone bad or a child indulged too much.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “soiled”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.