Top Definitions
Quizzes
Related Content
Examples

meanness

[ meen-nis ]

/ ˈmin nɪs /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for meanness on Thesaurus.com

noun

the state or quality of being mean.

a mean act: to answer meannesses with forgiveness.

QUIZZES

THINK YOU’VE GOT A HANDLE ON THIS US STATE NICKNAME QUIZ?

Did you ever collect all those state quarters? Put them to good use on this quiz about curious state monikers and the facts around them.

Question 1 of 8

Mississippi’s nickname comes from the magnificent trees that grow there. What is it?

The Sunflower State

The Evergreen State

The Magnolia State

The Mockingbird State

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of meanness

First recorded in 1550–60; mean² + -ness

Words nearby meanness

mean length of utterance, mean lethal dose, mean life, mean line, meanly, meanness, mean noon, mean planet, mean proportional, means, mean sea level

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for meanness

The wife who tipped you off did sort-of the right thing in getting upset and calling the meanness to your attention.
Carolyn Hax: She’s tired of being a tongue-biter around a backbiter|Carolyn Hax|November 22, 2020|Washington Post
Rather than feel guilt, people who have hurt us typically start to hate us - for reminding them of their own meanness.
How to Be Smart on Twitter|Alain de Botton|November 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The whole gag stinks of meanness—to Holly, to Kevin, to the mentally disabled community.
‘The Office’ Used to Be a Great Show. No, Really! See Proof (VIDEO)|Kevin Fallon|May 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It is “suspended from the nastiness of life and the meanness of the dead.”
How Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ Is Taught in Schools|Anna Clark|October 4, 2012|DAILY BEAST

Rich and poor despise each other, and all justify their meanness in the most appallingly self-serving ways imaginable.
‘The Casual Vacancy’ Review: J.K. Rowling Cuts Loose From Harry Potter|Malcolm Jones|September 27, 2012|DAILY BEAST
His meanness toward religious people was unbearably callous and smug.
Remembering the Real Genius of Christopher Hitchens, Not the Caricature|Lee Siegel|December 18, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Greater mischiefs happen often from folly, meanness, and vanity than from the greater sins of avarice and ambition.
Pearls of Thought|Maturin M. Ballou
Woman-like, she could advise and help to the end, but the meanness of the means revolted.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
It was thrown by a very dirty lamp, and disclosed a small court of unutterable meanness and inconceivable smells.
The Garret and the Garden|R.M. Ballantyne
There won't be a day, inside or out of it, that I won't run up against every damnable meanness that human nature is capable of.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
The truth is that their pride had, as extravagant pride often has, a close affinity with meanness.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.|Thomas Babington Macaulay

See Today's Synonym