sleaze

sleaze factor

An aspect, element, or part of a group, organization, campaign, activity, etc., that engages in, is tainted by, or is known for immoral, corrupt, or scandalous behavior. We're aiming to create a dating website for professional adults, without the sleaze factor for which some of our competitors are known. The deregulation of this industry has caused the sleaze factor to skyrocket, as people motivated purely by greed now have myriad ways to manipulate the system.
See also: factor, sleaze

sleazebag

An unpleasant, detestable, repellent person, especially one who makes lecherous advances or lewd remarks. My last manager was a total sleazebag, always implying that he and I should hook up sometime. There are a couple of sleazebags at the bar eyeing us up.

sleazeball

An unpleasant, detestable, repellent person, especially one who makes lecherous advances or lewd remarks. My last manager was a total sleazeball, always implying that he and I should hook up sometime. There's some sleazeball at the bar eyeing us up.

sleaze-bucket

An unpleasant, detestable, repellent person, place, or thing. My last manager was a total sleaze-bucket, always implying that he and I should hook up sometime. The only place in this town you could call a restaurant is a little sleaze-bucket down by the interstate.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

sleaze factor

The element in a political party, administration, or other organization that is corrupt, controversial, or tainted by scandal. For example, I can't see myself making a campaign contribution to them-there's too much of a sleaze factor . This slangy expression derives from the adjective sleazy, which means "vulgar" or "tawdry." The idiom was first used in politics in the 1980s.
See also: factor, sleaze
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

sleaze

and sleez (sliz)
1. n. a low and despicable person. You’d expect to find a sleaze like that in a sleazoid joint like this.
2. n. any junk. I won’t sell sleez like that! I won’t even have it in my store.
3. in. to act low; to be sexually promiscuous. She looks like the type who will sleaze and lie to get her own way.

sleazebag

n. a repellent person or place. I won’t go into a sleazebag like that.

sleazeball

n. a repellent person. Who is that sleazeball with the earring?

sleaze-bucket

n. a repellent person, thing, or place. Gad, what a sleaze-bucket! Let me out of here!
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

sleaze factor

The part of a situation or organization that is sordid or corrupt. The word sleaze has been used in the sense of immoral or corrupt since about 1960. The entire phrase is used mostly for components of an administration, political party, or campaign. An article by Joshua E. Keating was headlined, “Sleaze Factor, Is There an Epidemic of Corruption in the World’s Democracies?” (Foreign Policy, July 12, 2010). An article about a television reality show was headlined, “Critics Blame Big Media for Sleaze Factor” (Frank Ahrens, Washington Post, February 11, 2004).
See also: factor, sleaze
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • sleaze factor
  • sepulchre
  • a whited sepulcher
  • a whited sepulchre
  • nearer the church, the farther from God
  • bent
  • a sometime thing
  • something thing, a
  • weekend warrior
  • not put (something) past (one)
References in periodicals archive
The amount of sleaze alleged in Panama against Sharif is like rounding off errors in our budgets over the years.
MP Abdulhakeem Al Shemmri claimed that instead of tackling sleaze, some police officers were profiting from it.
Those keen to award the sleaze gong to Labour point out that - unlike events that have shamed Messrs Blair and Brown - the stain never reached No.10 when Mr Major occupied it.
SLEAZE METER: 3 Incompetence may be bipartisan, but critics argue that there will be more typos in the names of Hispanics, immigrants, and black women.
He should know that the only time I get an overwhelming stench of sleaze in my nostrils is when I read the wildly hypocritical bleating of Tories clutching at straws.
"Some landlords are sleaze and some contractors are sleaze, does anybody have any question about that?" Trump said.
He hit out at Blairites who had 'dishonestly' attacked the Conservatives for sleaze when he was in power.
Did you see David Brooks's "Masters of Sleaze" column?
US Marshal Harry Kincaid has been undercover watching James who is actually the sleaze Darin Ichatious, protected under the Witness Protection Program.
Sin-A-Rama: Sleaze Sex Paperbacks of the Sixties is a full-color gallery of paperback cover artwork from "sleazy" sex-themed paperback books of the 1960's.
OR DO THE NIELSEN RATINGS SHOW THAT WE'RE OBSESSED WITH WIFE-SWAPPING REALITY SLEAZE?
THE Tories may have invented sleaze - but Labour seem to be trying to perfect it.
Companies like to explain away some of their worst (and often cheapest) ingredients with words like "decadence." So that's what they're calling sleaze these days.
Read a never-before-published interview with the late Sister Sleaze, one of the group's early members, only on Advocate.com.
An aide said: "He's very much against sleaze and has felt for a long time parliament needs cleaning up."