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
Tesla’s energy storage sales aren’t looking too shabby, either.
—
Jonathan M. Gitlin,
ArsTechnica,
2 July 2026
But for cars that weighed around 3,100 pounds, those figures aren’t too shabby in terms of real-world performance.
—
Erik Shilling,
Robb Report,
27 June 2026
The result is a compassionate, elegant, unsettling book about some extremely shabby people.
—
Literary Hub,
26 June 2026
That’s a shabby excuse, as Labarga pointed out.
—
Orlando Sentinel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
26 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for shabby
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Jonathan M. Gitlin,
ArsTechnica,
2 July 2026
But for cars that weighed around 3,100 pounds, those figures aren’t too shabby in terms of real-world performance.
—
Erik Shilling,
Robb Report,
27 June 2026
The result is a compassionate, elegant, unsettling book about some extremely shabby people.
—
Literary Hub,
26 June 2026
That’s a shabby excuse, as Labarga pointed out.
—
Orlando Sentinel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
26 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for shabby
Cite this Entry
“Shabby.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shabby. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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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