shabby
Americanadjective
-
impaired by wear, use, etc.; worn.
shabby clothes.
-
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.
-
wearing worn clothes or having a slovenly or unkempt appearance.
a shabby person.
-
run-down, seedy, or dilapidated.
a shabby hotel.
-
meanly ungenerous or unfair; contemptible, as persons, actions, etc..
shabby behavior.
-
inferior; not up to par in quality, performance, etc..
a shabby rendition of the sonata.
adjective
-
threadbare or dilapidated in appearance
-
wearing worn and dirty clothes; seedy
-
mean, despicable, or unworthy
shabby treatment
-
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.
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 a flashback, Martini is seen leaving his shabby Potter-owned apartment with a goat and a troop of kids for a suburban tract home that Bailey developed and sold to him.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2025
"I guess it's not too shabby of a building then," jokes Tomori.
From BBC • Dec. 22, 2025
Series creator Sterlin Harjo superbly utilizes Ethan Hawke’s magnetism as Lee Raybon, a shabby, perpetually bruised citizen journalist sniffing around conspiracies the rest of the world would rather ignore.
From Salon • Dec. 17, 2025
“Take care, lad, or you shall end up like me, stripped of any respectable rank and warming your shabby old hide at the fire of your enemies.”
From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins
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.
