Along with realism was naturalism: "selective realism emphasizing the more sordid and pessimistic aspects of life."

But death in its more sordid and terrible aspects was a thing with which I had been unacquainted till now.

Instead it sought to portray real and typical contemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy, and not avoiding unpleasant or sordid aspects of life.

But Diana, there is the sordid aspect - common requirements - bread and butter.

It doesn't deal with the sordid aspects of society's underworld like its predecessors.

But she knows a thing or two about their life together, including sordid aspects they have not managed to keep private.

I didn't want the sordid aspects of this story to in any way confuse or cloud anyone's perception of his work, which continued productively for many years.

The existence of the photographs, all the sordid aspects of the man's life were rinsed away by the formalized prose.

They see the human condition in all its sordid aspects.

- (FR) Once again we are confronted with one of the most sordid aspects of contemporary society: trafficking in human beings.