Dirtying

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of tainting an object or environment, resulting in its loss of cleanliness or neatness
2. The process of causing an item or area to become unclean or covered with dirt
3. An action that results in an object or surface losing its clean state by adding grime or stains

Etymology: "Dirtying" is simply the present participle and gerund of "dirty," formed by adding the suffix "-ing" to the verb "dirty." That verb is itself a derivative: "dirt" (from Middle English "drit," probably from Old Norse "drit," meaning excrement) gave rise to "dirty" through the addition of the adjective-forming suffix "-y," and "dirty" was later used as a verb meaning "to make dirty." Speakers simply added "-ing" to that verb, so "dirtying" as a verb form is a late, regular extension of the root. The surprising part is the root's earlier sense. Old Norse "drit" was a coarse word for excrement, and English "dirt" for centuries carried a much stronger, more bodily meaning before it narrowed to soil and grime. Words for filth often began with blunt physical meanings like that.

Synonyms: soiling, staining, contaminating, filthy, polluting

Antonyms: cleaning, purifying, sanitizing, cleansing, tidying