Definition
Shabbily dressed, slovenly; impoverished; shabby, dilapidated.
In Context
- "He was a queer shoot, again, in his unkempt longish hair and slovenly clothes, a sort of very vulgar down-at-heel American in appearance."
- "For the likes of her, the down-at-heels support of Hoboken pier was plenty good enough."
- "Last year, he was down at heel, homeless and had an erratic relationship with his family."
- "A down-at-the-heels advertising copywriter when he hit on the idea, he originally meant it as a joke."
- "Researchers analysed 500 interviews with people in right-wing strongholds in France and Germany, places such as Gelsenkirchen-Ost, a down-at-heel suburb north-east of Essen blighted with high levels of unemployment and where anti-immigrant party Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) garnered nearly a third of the vote in the 2017 elections […]"
Opposite In Meaning
- well-heeled