foul

Meaning

Adj

1. Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.
2. Obscene, vulgar or abusive.
3. Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome.
4. Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust.
5. (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
6. Unpleasant, stormy or rainy. (of the weather)
7. Dishonest or not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.
8. Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear.
9. (with "of") Positioned on, in, or near enough to (a specified area) so as to obstruct it.
10. Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.

Verb

1. (transitive) To make dirty.
2. (transitive) To besmirch.
3. (intransitive, transitive) To obstruct, block, or otherwise interfere with (something), for example by clogging (a drain, gun barrel, chimney, etc) or by being in the way of (a gunshot, etc).
4. (transitive) To entangle.
5. (transitive) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.
6. (intransitive) To commit a foul.
7. (transitive) To hit outside of the baselines.
8. (intransitive) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.
9. (intransitive) To become clogged.
10. (intransitive) To become entangled.
11. To come into contact or collide with.

Noun

1. A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; for example, tripping someone up in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.
2. A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
3. A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.

Synonyms

dirty

nasty

filthy

vile

stinking

disgusting

bad

👎

unclean

defile

impure

fetid

rotten

loathsome

repulsive

soil

wicked

soiled

abominable

putrid

evil

lousy

muddy

rank

pollute

mean

low

smelly

unfair

fouled

contaminate

turbid

foul-smelling

stained

detestable

befoul

revolting

noisome

repellent

base

rainy

grimy

obscene

stain

awful

gross

smirch

rancid

reeking

odious

odor

Translations

ensuciar

foulen

falta

Foul

vuil

sporco

dégoûtant

fétide

sujo

faute

smerig

fallo

embrutar

schmutzig

puant

Pronounced as (IPA)

/faʊl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: foul

Inherited from Old English: fūl

Cognate with Dutch: vuil

Cognate with German: faul

Cognate with Faroese: fúlur

Cognate with Icelandic: fúll

Cognate with Danish: ful

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål: ful

Cognate with Swedish: ful

Cognate with Albanian: fëlliq

Cognate with Latin: puter

Inherited from Middle English: foulen

Inherited from Old English: fūlian

In summary

Inherited from Middle English foul, from Old English fūl (“foul, dirty, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, stinking, guilty”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūl, from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”).
Cognate with Dutch vuil (“foul, dirty, filthy, obscene, lewd”), German faul (“foul, rotten, putrid, lazy”), German Low German fuul (“foul, rotten, putrid”), Faroese fúlur (“foul”), Icelandic fúll (“foul, rotten, sullen”), Danish ful (“nasty, ugly”), Norwegian Bokmål ful (“clever, sly”), and Swedish ful (“ugly, dirty, bad”), and through Indo-European, with Albanian fëlliq (“to make dirty”), Latin puter (“rotten”). More at putrid.
Ancient Greek φαῦλος (phaûlos, “bad”) is a false cognate inasmuch as it is not from the same etymon, instead being cognate to few.