student asking question

Does “gross” have stronger meaning than “dirty”?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Yes. "Gross" means disgusting. You can call a person's actions gross and you can say something is gross. This has an extremely negative connotation because someone is disgusted by something or someone. Ex: Eww! He is picking his nose. That's so gross! Ex: She smells so gross! When was the last time she bathed? "Dirty" means that something is unclean. This word doesn't have as strong of a negative connotation as "gross" does. Ex: His room is very dirty. Ex: Your floor looks dirty. You should clean it.

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