sordid business/affair/story etc• All concerned should be cross-examined to get to the bottom of the whole sordid affair.• George Broomham was questioned, but only briefly, before he admitted the whole sordid affair.• It is a mildly sordid story.• To drag me into her sordid affairs.• Her own sordid story could only be a bad influence on such a young and impressionablemind.