What is "shabby" in English? Definition and Explanations

Updated: 03-05-2026 by Wikilanguages.net
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What does shabby mean in English? Meaning of shabby definition and abbreviation with examples.

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What is "shabby" in English? Definition and Explanations

Meaning of "shabby": showing signs of wear and tear

Adjective

  • Meaning: showing signs of wear and tear
  • Example: a ratty old overcoat shabby furniture an old house with dirty windows and tatty curtains
  • Synonyms: moth-eaten ratty shabby tatty
  • Similar: worn
  • Meaning of "shabby": mean and unworthy and despicable

    Adjective

  • Meaning: mean and unworthy and despicable
  • Example: shabby treatment
  • Synonyms: shabby
  • Similar: dishonorable dishonourable
  • Adjective: Torn or worn; poor; mean; ragged. 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, The Affair at the Novelty Theatre[1]: Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels. They lived in a tiny apartment, with some old, shabby furniture.1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, The Affair at the Novelty Theatre[1]: Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.Clothed with ragged, much worn, or soiled garments. The fellow arrived looking rather shabby after journeying so far.Mean; paltry; despicable. shabby treatment
  • Synonyms:

    ratty, shoddy, run-down, scruffy, decaying, dilapidated, pitiful, tattered, threadbare, worn, dingy, decrepit, desolate, crummy, ramshackle, seedy, squalid, rickety, tacky, bare, bedraggled, decayed, deteriorated, disreputable, faded, mangy, meager, mean, miserable, moth-eaten, neglected, poor, poverty-stricken, ragged, ruined, ruinous, sleazy, slipshod, tired, worn-out, wretched, scrubby, degenerated, deteriorating, disfigured, dog-eared, frayed, gone to seed, worse for wear, shoddy, cheap, beggarly, contemptible, dirty, disgraceful, dishonorable, disreputable, ignoble, ignominious, inconsiderate, inglorious, low, mean, mercenary, miserly, rotten, selfish, shady, shameful, sordid, sorry, stingy, thoughtless, unkind, unworthy, despisable, low-down, scummy,

    Antonyms:

    healthy, stable, honorable, good, nice, fresh, happy, new, unused, clean, respectable, honorable, good, nice, respectable,

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    shabby in English: shabby
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