Etymology
Origin of meanness
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Perhaps best of all: The movie has a gritty, charming meanness to it; a stickiness that’s hard to shake off.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
“Railroaded” evokes the meanness of New York in those years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
Rourke later apologised to Siwa, and told the housemates he "didn't say it out of meanness".
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2025
For every set, though, walls were never moved for the camera’s sake, “so you’re true to the claustrophobia,” says Gropman, and in the case of the dingy New York SRO, “the meanness of that space.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2024
Your kindness may be meanness now, and your bleak honesty fretful and conniving.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
