English Explanatory Dictionary

shabby

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj

Of clothing, a place, etc.: unkempt and worn or otherwise in poor condition due to age or neglect; scruffy.
Of a person: wearing ragged or very worn, and often dirty, clothing.
Of a person, their behaviour, etc.: despicable, mean; also, not generous; stingy, tight-fisted.
Poor in quality; also, showing little effort or talent.
Of the pulse: thready, weak.
Of weather: wet and dreary.
Chiefly of sheep: affected by shab or scab (“a skin disease”); scabby.

verb

To make (something) shabby (adjective sense 1); to shabbify.
To become shabby; to shabbify.

Pronunciation

/ˈʃæbi/ En-us-shabby.ogg

Word forms

shabby shabbier shabbiest shabbies shabbying shabbied

Etymology

The adjective is derived from shab (“(obsolete except UK, dialectal) scaly skin disease; skin disease of sheep; crust forming over wound, scab”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). The verb is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Dutch schabbig (“poor, needy, shabby”) * Middle High German schebic (modern German schäbig (“shabby”)) * Middle Low German schabbich (“miserable”) (modern Low German schabbig, schäbbig) * Scots shabby (“in poor health, ill”) * Swedish sjabbig (“shabby, mangy, scruffy”), skabbig (“scabby”)

Synonyms

decrepit moth-eaten run-down timeworn tired tacky clapped out damaged defective deteriorated dilapidated effete faulty munted outworn passé past it past one's prime raddled ragged ravaged rinky-dink rough shabby stale unimproved wasted weakened wrecked wrecksome worn worn-out worsened scroungy beat beat up beaten up bedraggled broken-down crumbling derelict draggled neglected ramshackle ruinous seedy tatterdemalion tumbledown ungenerous as tight as Dick's hatband cheap cheeseparing chintzy close close as wax close-fisted illiberal mean miserable miserly

Derived words

shabbify shabbily shabbiness shabby chic shabby-genteel shabbyish unshabby

Translations

Finnish: hääppöinen Māori: pūtaitai Spanish: chimbo Spanish: deterior Spanish: cutre Spanish: flaite

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