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.

He did a poorly received grunge collection that incoherently tried to marry haute couture with thrift-store shabbiness, and was fired for it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

The beauties are the glamor routes, the passenger trains that, whatever shabbiness may have befallen their interiors, more than make up for it with the grandeur of what lies outside their windows.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2023

There were plenty of interesting design twists: One jean jacket in Japanese denim had a regal stiffness, which nicely contrasting with the shabbiness of one of its breast pockets being missing.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 24, 2022

Being young and from the sticks, I found the shabbiness displaced by the excitement of arriving in London.

From Washington Post • Aug. 5, 2016

It was, for a long time, in spite of—or, not inconceivably, because of—the shabbiness of my motives, my only sustenance, my meat and drink.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin