shabby
Americanadjective
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impaired by wear, use, etc.; worn.
shabby clothes.
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showing conspicuous signs of wear or neglect.
The rooms on the upper floors of the mansion had a rather shabby appearance, as if they had not been much in use of late.
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wearing worn clothes or having a slovenly or unkempt appearance.
a shabby person.
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run-down, seedy, or dilapidated.
a shabby hotel.
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meanly ungenerous or unfair; contemptible, as persons, actions, etc..
shabby behavior.
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inferior; not up to par in quality, performance, etc..
a shabby rendition of the sonata.
adjective
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threadbare or dilapidated in appearance
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wearing worn and dirty clothes; seedy
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mean, despicable, or unworthy
shabby treatment
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dirty or squalid
Other Word Forms
- shabbily adverb
- shabbiness noun
- unshabbily adverb
- unshabby adjective
Etymology
Origin of shabby
1660–70; shab ( Middle English; Old English sceabb scab ) + -y 1; cognate with German schäbig
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 is obsessed with popular media and showbiz and the shabby values they embody.
From Salon • Mar. 28, 2026
In a meticulously crafted stop-motion world of gritty dockside poverty, a starving waif discovers the neglected girl in a shabby home weeps not teardrops but pearls.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2026
Carey, meanwhile, has generated 692 million streams — not too shabby, of course, but still not measuring up to the Canadian crooner.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 24, 2025
In some ways, Gyngell told reporters, the Michelin stamp of approval was a curse: New customers arrived with expectations of luxury, then grumbled when they found shabby chic.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 3, 2025
Finally I arrived at a big lounge with shabby furniture and a threadbare rug.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
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.
