1.
You use ~ to emphasize how unreasonable or unpleasant you think something is.
She protested that it wasn’t traditional jazz at all, but an ~ row...
The economy is still an ~ mess.
= horrendous
ADJ: ADJ n emphasis
2.
If you refer to two or more people or groups working together as an ~ alliance, you mean that this arrangement is unusual because the people usually oppose each other.
If the government does fall it will be because of this ~ alliance between the far right and the left...
Westerners charged that the party was run by an ~ coalition between North and South.
ADJ: ADJ n disapproval
3.
If you describe something as ~, you mean that it is wicked or bad.
‘This ought to be fun,’ he told Alex, eyes gleaming with an almost ~ relish...
ADJ: usu ADJ n