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meanness

[meen-nis]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR meanness ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the state or quality of being mean.

a mean act: to answer meannesses with forgiveness.

Nearby words

Origin of meanness

First recorded in 1550–60; mean² + -ness

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for meanness

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
Religion should never be associated in the mind of a child with injustice, cruelty, or any meanness.
Dickens As an Educator|James L. (James Laughlin) Hughes
If he were capable of such a meanness, was he to be trusted in anything else?
Reginald Cruden|Talbot Baines Reed
As for the question of meanness, that will never be considered for a moment.
The Squire's Daughter|Silas K(itto) Hocking
The government of China is one of fear; and it has produced the usual effects,—duplicity and meanness.
Foot-prints of a letter carrier|James Rees
And this was the brother whom he had been holding up to ridicule and accusing of meanness.
Amos Huntingdon|T.P. Wilson

Word Origin and History for meanness

meanness

n.

1550s, "weakness," from mean (adj.) + -ness. Sense of "baseness, poverty" is from 1650s; that of "stinginess" from 1755.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper