rusty
rustier; rustily; rustiest
If your German is rusty, it's like the bike you left out in the rain too many times that turned brown and flakey on the metal parts. Like your bike, your German skills became rusty, meaning they're suffering from neglect.
You can also describe yourself as rusty: you used to do flips on your skateboard, but you haven't practiced in a while and now you're a little rusty. Rusty can also refer to the color of rust, which is a reddish-brown — a rusty-colored dog, for instance. Anything made of iron or steel that you leave outside in the elements is likely to oxidize and become rusty, covered with rust.
Definitions of rusty
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covered with or consisting of rust
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of the brown color of rust
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synonyms:
rust, rust-brown
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chromatic
being, having, or characterized by hue
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chromatic
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impaired in skill by neglect
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synonyms:
out of practice
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unskilled
not having or showing or requiring special skill or proficiency
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unskilled
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ancient
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘rusty'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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