shabby-genteel
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of shabby-genteel
First recorded in 1745–55
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.
Smith writes about yardbird intellects, refugees from good taste and urban ease; her characters are shabby-genteel with the gentility knob turned down pretty low.
From New York Times ● Aug. 17, 2020
Many say they want a new hotel, but that the proposed resort is too big and fancy for Harpers Ferry, whose shabby-genteel charm has changed little in the last 60 years.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 16, 2020
A tall, red-nosed shabby-genteel man in a threadbare black coat enters the room and, pointing to each item of furniture, mutters: "Mine".
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2013
The chill in her eyes doesn’t prevent the frustrated men on a shabby-genteel estate from falling foolishly, hopelessly in love with her Yelena, the lethally bored wife of a boorish academic.
From BusinessWeek ● Aug. 11, 2011
But this part of the city is no longer flat, dowdy, shabby-genteel.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
