shabby

adjective

shab·​by ˈsha-bē 

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

b

: ungenerous, unfair

laments the shabby way in which this country often treated a poet

—Paul Engle

c

: inferior in quality

shabby reasoning

shabbily

ˈsha-bə-lē 

adverb

shabbiness

ˈsha-bē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• beat-up
• bombed-out
• dilapidated
• dog-eared
• down-at-the-heels
• down-at-heel
• down-at-the-heel
• down-at-heels
• dumpy
• grungy
• mangy
• mean
• miserable
• moth-eaten
• neglected
• ratty
• run-down
• scrubby
• scruffy
• seedy
• sleazy
• tacky
• tatterdemalion
• tatty
• threadbare
• timeworn
• tumbledown

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

Perennial plants, yard art and shabby chic boutique. —Journal Sentinel, 8 Apr. 2024

Keeping her promise, Baby Doe lived in a shabby cabin near the mine decades after Horace’s death. —Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 5 Apr. 2024

Samantha, always game, agrees, but both are dismayed when their vision of a glamorous train trip is shattered by its shabby reality (a cramped sleeper room with a scary looking toilet). —Cady Lang, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024

His officers and local police recently raided a shabby storefront in Long Beach. —Martin Kaste, NPR, 5 Apr. 2024

Her mom, unemployed and clinically stressed science journalist Fanny (Paprika Steen), looks set to be shipped out like most Danes to a more challenging destination such as a shabby high-rise suburb of Bucharest with eight people per apartment and a dormitory bedroom. —John Hopewell, Variety, 5 Apr. 2024

Much of the work commissioned by Heller would look naive and shabby today, more like the sets and costumes for a high school musical than the sort of thing that is marketed to billionaires at international art fairs. —Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 25 Mar. 2024

The delicate shower curtain is the perfect addition to a bathroom with a shabby chic or spa-like style. —Andrea Wurzburger, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Mar. 2024

Not too shabby for a first start replacing Aaron Rodgers and a second overall NFL start in a 38-20 opening victory over the Bears at Soldier Field. —Emmett Prosser, Journal Sentinel, 5 Jan. 2024

Word History

Etymology

obsolete English shab a low fellow

First Known Use

1669, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing shabby

• not (too) shabby

Kids 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

shabbily

ˈshab-ə-lē 

adverb

shabbiness

ˈshab-ē-nəs 

noun