lowdown

lowdown

See also: low-down

English

Alternative forms

• low-down

Etymology

Compound adjective of low +‎ down in the sense of "humble" recorded in the 1540s, in the sense of "vulgar, far down the social scale" in 1888. Recorded as a noun in 1915 in the slang sense of secret or inside information.

Noun

lowdown (uncountable)

1. inside information, the story or truth.

   Synonyms: scoop, dirt, dope, straight dope, poop

   All the reporters hoped to be the first to get the lowdown on the celebrity's marriage plans.

   here's the lowdown

   to give somebody the lowdown

2. A lowlife, a despicable person.

Translations

the whole truth

Chinese: Mandarin: 真相 (zh) (zhēnxiàng), 內幕／内幕 (zh) (nèimù) Czech: holá pravda f German: Fakten (de) pl, Infos (de) pl, Informationen (de) pl Hungarian: értesülés (hu), füles (hu) Japanese: 真相 (ja) (しんそう, shinsō), 内幕 (ja) (うちまく, uchimaku, ないまく, naimaku) Portuguese: revelação (pt) Russian: подного́тная (ru) f (podnogótnaja), подоплёка (ru) f (podopljóka) Turkish: içyüz (tr)

Adjective

lowdown (comparative more lowdown, superlative most lowdown)

1. Unfair; shameful.

   lowdown tactics

2. down low; purporting to be heterosexual while engaged in sex with men.

Anagrams

• down low, down-low, downlow