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.
Not too shabby, but worse than the S&P 500 as well as the S&P 500 Health Care Sector Index, which gained 17% and 14%, respectively.
From Barron's
That is because he thinks the index’s earnings per share will grow 10% this year—not too shabby, but below the consensus estimate of 15% growth.
From Barron's
The meeting house grows progressively more dilapidated, and the costumes get shabbier, indicating that things aren’t going well for the Puritans.
The S&P 500 capped a third strong year and U.S. stocks remain one of the most attractive bets for investors in 2026— but things aren’t looking too shabby across the pond, either.
From Barron's
Carey, meanwhile, has generated 692 million streams — not too shabby, of course, but still not measuring up to the Canadian crooner.
From MarketWatch
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.
