Shabby

Definition: Shabby

Shabby

Adjective

1. Showing signs of wear and tear; "a ratty old overcoat"; "shabby furniture"; "an old house with dirty windows and tatty curtains".

2. Mean and unworthy and despicable; "shabby treatment".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "shabby" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1613. (references)

Note: Shabby \Shab"by\, adjective. [Comparative Shabbier; superlative Shabbiest.]. (references)

Synonyms: Shabby

Deterioration

Adjective: unimproved; (improve; ); deteriorated; Verb: altered, altered for the worse; injured; Verb: sprung; withering, spoiling; Verb: on the wane, on the decline; tabid; degenerate; marescent; worse; the worse for, all the worse for; out of repair, out of tune; imperfect; the worse for wear; battered; weathered, weather-beaten; stale, passe, shaken, dilapidated, frayed, faded, wilted, shabby, secondhand, threadbare; worn, worn to a thread, worn to a shadow, worn to the stump, worn to rags; reduced, reduced to a skeleton; far gone; tacky.

Disrepute

Ignominious, scrubby, dirty, abject, vile, beggarly, pitiful, low, mean, shabby base; (dishonorable).

Improbity

Contemptible, unrespectable, abject, mean, shabby, little, paltry, dirty, scurvy, scabby, sneaking, groveling, scrubby, rascally, pettifogging; beneath one.

Parsimony

Adjective: parsimonious, penurious, stingy, miserly, mean, shabby, peddling, scrubby, penny wise, near, close; fast handed, close handed, strait handed; close fisted, hard fisted, tight fisted; tight, sparing; chary; grudging, griping; Verb: illiberal, ungenerous, churlish, hidebound, sordid, mercenary, venal, covetous, usurious, avaricious, greedy, extortionate, rapacious.

Unimportance

Poor, paltry, pitiful; contemptible; (contempt); sorry, mean, meager, shabby, miserable, wretched, vile, scrubby, scrannel, weedy, scurvy, putid, beggarly, worthless, twopennyhalfpenny, cheap, trashy, catchpenny, gimcrack, trumpery; one-horse. not worth the pains, not worth while, not worth mentioning, not worth speaking of, not worth a thought, not worth a curse, not worth a straw; Noun: beneath notice, unworthy of notice, beneath regard, unworthy of regard, beneath consideration, unworthy of consideration; de lana caprina; vain; (useless).

Vulgarity

Dowdy; slovenly; (dirty); ungenteel, shabby genteel; low, common, hoi polloi; (plebeian); uncourtly; uncivil; (discourteous); ill bred, ill mannered; underbred; ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike; unladylike, unfeminine; wild, wild as an unbacked colt.

Crosswords: Shabby

I don't deserve this shabby treatment (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge)

The food ain't too shabby, (In France; performing artist: Frank Zappa)

What a shame such a shapely sash should such shabby stitches show. (references; author: unknown)

Shabby Tiger (1973)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Adam Sandler: Not Too Shabby! (reference)

• Charlie and the Shabby Tabby (reference)

• Science and the Shabby Cruate of Poetry (reference)

• Shabby Tiger [LARGE PRINT] (reference)

  (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

She dropped down into his shabby college arm-chair and hid her face in the scattered papers on his desk. Credit: Library of Congress.

The shabby man. Credit: Library of Congress.

Shabby brick houses typical of Franklin Township near Bound Brook, New Jersey. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

The garbage heaps are shabby.

In the vestry a plump freshfaced jesuit and an elderly man, in shabby blue clothes, were dabbling in a case of paints and chalks

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expressions using "shabby": a shabby trick ♦ do smb. a shabby turn ♦ shabby base ♦ shabby looking ♦ shabby trick. Additional references.

Beginning with "shabby": shabby-duckling, shabby-genteel, shabby-looking.

Ending with "shabby": cafe-shabby.

Albanian

recka-recka, i vjetër (ancient, antique, long ago, long standing, moss-grown, old, olden, passe, primitive, superannuated, used), i rreckosur (ragged), i rrëgjuar (flea-bitten, shrivelled, stunted, wasted), i leckosur (frumpish, hole-in-the-wall, ragged, tatterdemalion, tattered), i lënë pas dore (uncared for). (various references)

Arabic 

‏مهترئ (worn, worn out), ‏حقير (abject, base, beggarly, blackguardly, cheap, despicable, dingy, dirty, frowzy, grubby, ignoble, inferior, insignificant, lousy, low, low down, lowly, mean, menial, niggling, paltry, pettifogger, petty, pip squeak, pitiable, pitiful, poor, popinjay, rotten, scabby, scaly, scoundrelly, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, servile, shoddy, slavish, slim, slushy, small minded, snide, sod, squalid, swine, tacky, trifling, ungracious, unworthy, varmint, vile, villainous, worthless, wretched), ‏خسيس (abject, base, contemptible, dastardly, despicable, ignoble, loon, lousy, low, lowly, mean, paltry, pooch, reptile, ruffian, scruffy, servile, shoddy, sleazy, small change, sordid, vile, villainous), ‏رث الملبس, ‏رث (dowdy, down, dungy, heel, inherit, mangy, outworn, seedy, slipshod, threadbare, worn, worn out), ‏ردئ النوع (cheap, flimsy, leaden, wretched), ‏دنيء (dirty, sordid, vile, villainous), ‏بال (decomposed, decrepit, fossil, mangy, musty, old fashioned, outmoded, outworn, rotten, stale, threadbare, tired, trite, well worn, worn, worn out). (various references)

Bulgarian 

скъпернически (avaricious, covetous, mean, mingy, miser, miserly, penurious, stingy), опърпан (disreputable, down at heel, seedy), нищожен (exiguous, footling, insignificant, miserable, naught, negligible, nominal, nugatory, outside, paltry, peddling, pettifogging, pygmy, trifling, trivial), никакъв (no, none, null, punk, putrid, scabbed, scabby), занемарен (neglected, ragged, run down, seedy, sleazy, squalid, uncultivated, unkempt, untended), бедняшки (slummy), беден (fortuneless, humble, hungry, impecunious, indigent, jejune, meager, meagre, mean, moneyless, necessitous, needful, needy, penniless, penurious, pokey, poky, poor, poorly off, poverty stricken, scanty, tenuous, thin), похабен (blunt, gone to waste, old, worn), подъл (base, blackguardly, caitiff, creeping, dastardly, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, dirt, dirty, dishonorable, dishonourable, jesuitic, jesuitical, low, low down, low-minded, mean, mean-spirited, miscreant, recreant, reptile, scurvy, snaky, sneaking, sneaky, snide, vile, villainous), парцалив (in rags, in tatters, ragged, tattered), изтъркан (bare, hack, hackneyed, napless, old hat, outworn, platitudinous, played out, raunchy, stale, stereotypical, threadbare, time worn, trite, twice-told, warmed-over, well worn, worn out), износен (burnt-out, inexpensive, napless, old, outworn, profitable, scruffy, shiny, threadbare, well worn, worn out), дребен (dinky, dwarf, finical, finicking, finicky, insignificant, little, minor, niggling, paltry, peddling, petty, picayune, piddling, pimping, pokey, poky, poor, potty, puerile, puny, pygmy, rabbity, sawed-off, short, small, small time, small-scale, trifling, trivial, undersized, unimportant, venial), дрипав (ragged, ratty, tattered, tatty). (various references)

Chinese 

破舊 , 破旧 (Worn-out), 敝 (defeated, my, poor, ruined, worn out). (various references)

Czech

podlý (base, contemptible, currish, ignoble, lowdown, mean, sordid, ugly, villainous, wicked), otrhaný (tattered), obnošený (threadbare, used, well worn, worn out), ošumìlý (disreputable, dowdy, dowdyish, down at heel, scruffy, seedy, shoddy, threadbare), darebný, šetrný (considerate, economical, frugal, near, parsimonious, spare, sparing, thrifty). (various references)

Farsi 

نخ نما (Tacky), کهنه (Ancient, Antique, Archaic, Bygone, Clout, Dead, Gray, Lint, Musty, Obsolescent, Obsolete, Old, Olden, Pokey, Ragged, Rundown, Tacky, Timeworn, Wad), ژنده (Ragged), دون (Low, Lowly, Poor, Ribald, Servile, Small, Sordid). (various references)

Finnish

nukkavieru (seedy-looking, threadbare), kulunut (hackneyed, stale, threadbare, well-worn, worn-out). (various references)

French

salaud, usé, reluisant (shining), râpé, miteux, minable, mesquin (shoddy), mauvais, délabré, élimé. (various references)

German

schäbige (dingy, dowdily, seedy, sordidly, tackily), schäbig (cheap, dingily, disreputable, dowdy, mangy, mean, measly, moldy, paltry, pokily, poky, poor, raggedly, scabby, seedily, seedy, shabbily, shoddily, shoddy, sordid, stingy, tackily, tacks, tacky, threadbare, tinny), abgetragen (outworn, well worn, worn, worn out). (various references)

Greek 

κουρελιάρικοσ, πρόστυχοσ (bitchy, caddish, cheap, coarse, common, hangdog, ignoble, lawbred, lewd, low, lowdown, low-minded, mean, ornery, raffish, ratty, scurrilous, scurvy, shoddy, sordid, vile, vulgar), πενιχρόσ (exiguous, jejune, meager, meagre, penurious, scanty), παλιόσ (dated, old), ευτελήσ (cheap, low, mean, soulless, tacky, worthless), ακατάστατος (disorderly, messy, untidy). (various references)

Hebrew 

ממורטט (ragged, tattered), ממורט (polished, worn), מרופט (ragged, seedy, tattered, threadbare), שפל (base, degeneration, ebb, humble, indolent, lousy, low, low down, low tide, lowliness, mean, mean-spirited, meek, minimum, miscreant, ornery, recession, scabby, scamp, sordid, vile), פוחח (ragged). (various references)

Hungarian

rongyos (frazzled, paltry, pelting, ragged, scrubby, tattered, tatty), kopott (aged, dilapidated, dingy, ragged, rinky-dink, rubbed, rusty, scuffed, seedy, threadbare, to be out at elbows, to be out at heels, worn, worn out), piszkos (crappy, dingy, dirty, filthy, frouzy, greasy, grubby, messy, mucky, nasty, piggish, pigsty, pokey, poky, scuz, scuzz, scuzzy, slatternly, sloppy, smeary, smudgy, smutty, snotty, soiled, sordid, spotty, unclean, untidy), komisz (cussed, nasty, ornery, villainous, wicked), fukar (avaricious, be stingy, cheese paring, mean, mingy, miserly, money-grubbing, scrimp, scrimpy, skimpy, stingy, strait), elnyűtt (beat-up, downtrodden, hackneyed, time-worn, worn-out), ócska (crock, crummy, dud, hand-me-down, junk, junker, measly, rattletrap, raunchy, scrubby, scummy, suck, time-worn, villainous). (various references)

Indonesian

jorok (vulgar). (various references)

Italian

striminzito (skimpy, skinny), squallido (bleak, dingy, dismal, dreary, seamy, sleazy, squalid, wretched), sciatto (blowzy, careless, dowdy, frowzy, pig, sleazily, slipshod, sloppy, slovenly, unkempt), scialbo (colorless, colourless, dull, faint, jejune, pale), trasandato (dowdy, scruffy, sleazy, slipshod, slovenly, untidy), meschino (base, beggarly, currish, mean, measly, miserable, narrow, paltry, petty, poor, scanty, small minded, sordid, sorry, wretched), malandato (badly off, down and out, in bad condition), logoro (effete, exhausted, jaded, outworn, ragged, ruined, threadbare, well worn, worn, worn out). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

卑しい (base, greedy, humble, mean, vile, vulgar). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

いやしい (base, greedy, humble, mean, vile, vulgar), わびしい (comfortless, dreary, lonely, miserable, wretched), よれよれ (seedy, worn-out, wrinkled-up), みすぼらしい (seedy). (various references)

Korean 

누추한. (various references)

Manx

kercheenagh (abject, cringing, cullionly, dependent, down-and-out, impoverished, impoverishing, miserable, rotten, servile, slavish, truckle, vile, vile morally), boght-choamrit, boght (deprived, grotty, miserable, pauper, poor, shoddy, skinny). (various references)

Pig Latin

abbyshay.(various references)

Portuguese

velho (aged, ancient, antiquated, antique, elderly, graybeard, hunker, old, old man, olden, stale, superannuated, threadbare, trite, worm-eaten), roto (out), puído (seedy, threadbare), pobre (almsman, beggar, beggarly, close-fisted, destitute, eleemosynary, hard set, hungry, indigent, jejune, lazarus, lean, mean, mendicant, miserable, necessitous, needy, pauper, penniless, penurious, poor), muito usado, maltrapilho (ragamuffin, rat, ratty, shake-rag, tatterdemalion, tattered, threadbare), gasto (consumption, cost, effete, exhausted, expenditure, expense, impoverished, jaded, offscourings, old, out, outgo, seedy, spent, threadbare, trite, untrue, waste, wear), esfarrapado (in tatters, lacerated, ragged, tattered), ensebado (slick), em mau estado (dilapidated, tainted, unsound). (various references)

Romanian

sãrãcãcios (baldly, barely, barren, humble, mean, meanly, miserable, modest, penurious, poky, poor, poorly, poverty stricken, scant, slender, sorry, sparing), uzat (cast off, decrepit, effete, jaded, mangy, napless, obsolete, outworn, peeled, seedy, spent, used, well worn, worn out), ticãlos (a bad egg, base, cad, canting, cur, dark, dirty, felon, foul, heel, hound, impious, kite, knave, knavish, knavishly, low-minded, mean, meanly, miscreant, paltry, perverse, picaroon, rapscallion, rascal, rascally, recreant, reprobate, ruffian, scab, scabby, scamp, scoundrel, scurvy, serpentine, skunk, sneak, sneaking, vile, villain, villainous, wretch, wretched), rupt (by the board, out at, ragged, ruptured, seedy, torn), purtat (obsolete, used, worn), ponosit (cast off, decrepit, seedy), neîngrijit (dowdy, frowzy, grubby, poky, slattern, sloppy, unkempt, untidy, weed-grown), murdar (base, basely, bawdy, dingy, dirty, dungy, filthy, foul, foully, frowzy, greasy, grimy, grubby, impure, mangy, messy, nasty, piggish, piggy, poky, scurrilous, seedy, slimy, slovenly, smeary, smutty, soppy, sordid, sordidly, squalid, Tarry, thick, unclean, untidy), meschin (base, basely, base-spirited, costive, hen-hearted, illiberal, little, low down, mean, mercantile, nasty, paltrily, paltry, peddling, pettily, petty, small, sneaky, sordid, stingy, trivial), josnic (abject, base, base-minded, despicable, dirty, grovelling, grubby, infamous, little, low, low-minded, mean, meanly, nasty, paltry, scurrilous, scurvy, slavish, sordid, sordidly, vile), blestemat (accursed, confounded, cursed, damnable, damned, darn, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, evil-minded, rascally, terrible, villainous, wicked). (various references)

Russian 

обтрепанный, обносившийся, облезлый (mangy), некрасивый (charmless, graceless, ill-favored, ill-favoured, uncomely, unsightly), потрепанный;поношенный;подлый, поношенный (grey headed, seedy, time worn, time-worn, well worn). (various references)

Scottish

brimin bodaich (a shabby carle). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

traljav (sloppy), pohaban (battered, dingy, frayed, napless, outworn, threadbare, worn, worn out), otrcan (commonplace, corny, hackneyed, outworn, stale, tame, threadbare, trite, well worn), nepravedan (inequitable, unfair, unjust, unrighteous, wrongful). (various references)

Spanish

raído (bare, frayed, fret, seedy, tacky, tatty, threadbare), mezquino (beggarly, cheap, hard-fisted, mean, measly, miserable, paltry, penurious, petty, petty-minded, scabby, scaly, skimpy, small minded, small-minded), mal entrazado (ragged), lamentable (deplorable, grievous, lamentable, pitiable, pitiably, pitiful, regrettable, rueful, sad, woeful, woesome), desharrapado, andrajoso (ragged, ratty, tattered). (various references)

Swedish

tarvlig (cheap, common, frugal, ignoble, low down, paltry, scurvy, seamy, vulgar), sluskig (slovenly), sjaskig (blowzy, dowdy, flea-bitten, grubby, scrubby, scruffy, seedy, sleazy, tattered). (various references)

Thai

โกโรโกโส (run-down). (various references)

Turkish

sefil (abject, beggarly, dead end, destitute, down and out, down at heels, hangdog, miserable, poor, poverty stricken, rep, ropy, sordid, squalid, starveling, wretch, wretched), yırtık pırtık (ragged, tacky, tattered, tattered and torn, tatty), pejmürde (down at heels, down heels, down the heels, out at heels, ragged, tacky), kılıksız (dowdy, dowdyish, down heels, down the heels, draggled, frumpish, hangdog, mean, poky, ratty, seedy, sleazy, slovenly, untidy), hırpani (dowdy, seedy, slatternly, sleazy, ungainly, unkempt), eski püskü (moth-eaten, tatty, threadbare, worn out), eli sıkı (close-fisted, hard-fisted, mean, near, skinny, tight, tight-fisted), cimri (chary, cheapskate, cheeseparing, churlish, close, close-fisted, costive, hard-fisted, illiberal, light purse, long purse, mangy, mean, measly, mingy, miser, near, parsimonious, penny pincher, penurious, piker, pinchpenny, screw, scrimp, scrimpy, Scrooge, shylock, skimp, skimpy, skin, skinflint, skinny, sordid, spare, stingy, tight, tight purse, tight-fisted, tightwad, ungenerous). (various references)

Ukrainian

нікчемний (contemptible, futile, gewgaw, no-account, not worth a damn, paltry, piffling, punk, riff raff, scrubby, trifling, unworthy), ношений (hand-me-down, worn out), занедбаний (desolate, forsaken, godforsaken, neglected, uncared for, uncouth), бідний (bare, barren, destitute, fortuneless, lean, necessitous, needful, needy, one horse, pauper, penurious, poor, scrannel, tenuous, underprivileged). (various references)

Vietnamese 

sờn (fuzzy), xấu (baleful, deplorable, evil, ill-favoured, ill-looking, punk, sorry, ugly, unbeautiful, unpleasant, wicked, wrong), tiều tuỵ bủn xỉn đáng khinh, tồi tàn (drear, dreary, poky, sorry), mòn, hư (bogus, diseased, naughty, untoward, wicked), hèn hạ (abject, base, basely, blithering, despicable, dirtily, dirty, dishonourable, meanly, picayune, poor, scabbily, scurvy, vile), đê tiện (abject, contemptible, hangdog, ignoble, ignominious, lousily, plebeian, scabbily, scabby, scaly, scurvy, servile, small). (various references)

Misspellings

"Shabby" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Habibie, Sahabi, Schibsbye, Shaab, Shabab, shabb, shabbe, Shabbir, Shabib, Shabir, shaby, shibb, Shibu, snabb, swabby, Swaby. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: abys, ashy, baby, bash, bays, hays, shay.

-3 letters: abs, aby, ash, ays, bah, bas, bay, bys, has, hay, sab, say, sha, shy, yah.

-4 letters: ab, ah, as, ay, ba, by, ha, sh, ya.

+1 letter: babyish.

+2 letters: shabbily.

+3 letters: babyhoods, beachboys.