Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A mean, vindictive spirit.
- noun The state of being mean in grade or quality; want of dignity or distinction; commonness; poorness; rudeness.
- noun Want of mental elevation or dignity, destitution of spirit or honor; contemptibleness; baseness.
- noun Sordid illiberality; stinginess; over-selfish economy in small things; niggardliness.
- noun Synonyms Abjectness, lowness, lowliness, scantiness. slenderness. See
abject . - noun 2 and Littleness, Meanness, illiberality, sordidness, penuriousness, closeness, miserliness. Littleness applies to more than meanness applies to, as the understanding and the affections; it is the opposite of all largeness of nature, and especially of magnanimity. Meanness is directly selfish, but in a sordid, groveling, pinching fashion; it is the opposite of
nobleness and generosity. Seepenuriousness .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The condition, or quality, of being mean; want of excellence; poorness; lowness; baseness; sordidness; stinginess.
- noun A mean act.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable The condition, or quality, of being
mean ; want of excellence; poorness; lowness; baseness; sordidness; stinginess. - noun A mean act; as, to be guilty of a meanness.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun extreme stinginess
- noun the quality of being deliberately mean
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word meanness.
Examples
-
I thought you had been above such meanness, or, I promise you, I should never have borrowed your half-guinea, "added Holloway; and he left his unfortunate creditor to reflect upon the new ideas of _meanness_ and _spirit_, which had been thus artfully thrown out.
Tales and Novels — Volume 01 Maria Edgeworth 1808
-
At this he affected to be perfectly unconcerned, and merely protested against what he called the meanness of trying to fix the charge on him.
-
Of course, meanness is not toughness, and the right are anything but tough.
Think Progress » VIDEO: The Extreme, Violent Rhetoric Of GOP Lawmakers 2010
-
As I use to say, meanness is becoming commonplace for our people.
Global Voices in English » Japan: Reactions to the Japanese tourist rip-off in Italy 2009
-
In reading these blogs it seems that a lot more meanness is comeing from the Obama supporters.
Clinton picks up a superdelegate, but still lags behind 2008
-
My meanness is usually restricted to just not spending if at all possible!
-
I suspect that there's a mindset behind it of either desperation or just plain meanness that leads to this.
November 2004 2004
-
It may be that you just happened to run into a few people who think meanness is the way to go.
B2fxxx 2004
-
It is also unfit that any human being possessed of this precious and sacred treasure of human life should live in meanness, in penury, in hardship, in torment, unless these things be perceivably for disciplinary or retaliatory purposes imposed upon that life by the official sentence of organized society.
-
'Ah! Don Lorenzo, you forget in that pompous title the meanness of my origin.
The Monk; a romance 1796
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.