shabbier; shabbiest
1
: clothed with worn or seedy garments
a shabby hobo
2
a
: threadbare and faded from wear
a shabby sofa
b
: ill-kept : dilapidated
a shabby neighborhood
3
a
: mean, despicable, contemptible
must feel shabby … because of his compromises—
Nat Hentoff
Nat Hentoff
b
: ungenerous, unfair
laments the shabby way in which this country often treated a poet—Paul Engle
Paul Engle
c
: inferior in quality
shabby reasoning
Examples of shabby in a Sentence
The furniture was old and shabby.
He wore a shabby coat.
Her first apartment was pretty shabby.
They complained about the shabby treatment they received at the hotel.
Backing out of the deal was a shabby thing to do.
Recent Examples on the Web
The woman’s husband, a scrawny man in a shabby work uniform, smelling of sewage, drooped behind the gurney.
—Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
And the full-page beer list isn’t too shabby, either.
—Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 22 Oct. 2025
Fresh walls and old trims can be a pointless exercise, as shabby trims will attract attention for all the wrong reasons.
—Sophie Flaxman, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Oct. 2025
Natalia had gone from a shabby apartment building to the Moscow and London mansions of one of the richest men in the world.
—Julia Ioffe, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shabby
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Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
And the full-page beer list isn’t too shabby, either.
—Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 22 Oct. 2025
Fresh walls and old trims can be a pointless exercise, as shabby trims will attract attention for all the wrong reasons.
—Sophie Flaxman, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Oct. 2025
Natalia had gone from a shabby apartment building to the Moscow and London mansions of one of the richest men in the world.
—Julia Ioffe, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shabby
Cite this Entry
“Shabby.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shabby. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
shabby
adjective
shab·by
ˈshab-ē 
shabbier; shabbiest
1
: dressed in worn clothes
2
a
: worn and faded from wear
a shabby sofa
b
: ill kept : dilapidated
shabby houses
3
: not fair or generous
shabby treatment
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