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Showing results for meanie. Search instead for mieszkanie.
Synonyms

meanie

American  
[mee-nee] / ˈmi ni /
Or meany

noun

Informal.
  • meanies
    plural
  1. a mean, small-minded, petty, or selfish person.

    The children said their teacher was a real meanie.

  2. a villain, as in a movie or book.

    Syndrome is the meanie in “The Incredibles.”


meanie British  
/ ˈmiːnɪ /

noun

  1. a miserly or stingy person

  2. a nasty ill-tempered person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of meanie

First recorded in 1925–30; mean 2 + -ie


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.

See Examples For:

The green meanie is up to his old tricks in this musical adaptation of the animated 1966 TV special based on the children’s book.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2021

My husband then began egging our children on with comments about how it’s too bad we can’t have a pet because mom is being a meanie.

From Slate ● Apr. 27, 2021

“Evil doesn’t care if you’re nice,” he declares, which is certainly the case with the villain of the piece, a meanie with a robotic claw named — what else?

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2019

Since the diva had slept in a crouch On a too-tiny rollaway couch, She came on like a meanie, Which suited Puccini, Who’d cast her as Tosca the Grouch.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 5, 2019

Being the meanie that he was, he moved slowly, getting great pleasure from Father Time’s fear.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles

According to the letter, Twitter is a bunch of big meanies that aren’t giving Musk the information he needs to close the transaction, specifically about bots and spam.

From The Verge ● Jun. 10, 2022

Even by the meanies in the City of Brotherly Love, who have alternated between serenading Simmons with lusty boos and defending his game through clenched teeth.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 25, 2021

Another gadget is an inflatable hug that immobilizes meanies in its enveloping embrace.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2019

Meanies do as meanies see, and Mr. Merkley never said a peep as Mr. Reid set a new low standard for public behavior.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 2, 2016

Some established designers, grumbling privately because they did not want to be seen as meanies, see the change as symbolic of a broader watering-down of creativity in fashion.

From New York Times ● Dec. 7, 2012

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