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
Etymology
Origin of shabby
1660–70; shab ( Middle English; Old English sceabb scab ) + -y 1; cognate with German schäbig
Explanation
The adjective shabby describes something that is threadbare or worn out. Your last apartment was clean, but the furniture and carpets were so shabby that you were embarrassed to invite your friends over. The adjective shabby also describes a manner of acting that is mean or contemptible. If you spent your whole childhood treating your younger brother in a shabby way, you can't expect him to be your friend when you're older. In modern slang, if you say something is "not too shabby," you mean that it was good. You might compliment your brother by telling him his soda can sculpture isn't too shabby.
Vocabulary lists containing shabby
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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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.
Discs in 1987, they settled down in a Kilmarnock recording studio nicknamed "Shabby Road" to work on the record.
From BBC • Nov. 28, 2023
A tattered, moth-eaten construct that looks like it’s been cobbled together from the spare-parts bin at the $1.98 Special Effects House at the intersection of Shabby Lane and Threadbare Thoroughfare.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 16, 2023
Shabby chic, minus the chic, permeates the school.
From New York Times • Feb. 6, 2013
Shabby infrastructure, desolate streets and prison-like houses contrast with the shiny shopping malls of El Paso, tantalizingly visible through the fence that marks the world's only land border between a rich and a developing nation.
From Reuters • Oct. 6, 2010
“That’s a handsome coat. Shabby but a good cut. You’re a tailor’s son, aren’t you?”
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
