Definition of "sordid"

He rode slowly home along the deserted road, watching the stars come out in the clear violet sky. They flashed softly into the limpid heavens, like jewels let fall into clear water. They were a reproach, he felt, to a sordid world.

1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

I know it sounds sordid but you'll be rewarded, when at last I've been given my dues.

1994, The Lion King, Be Prepared musical number

It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.

2006, John C. Roberts, concurrence and dissent in part in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006)