as in cruel
feeling or showing a desire to cause harm or pain
a mean-spirited person He wrote a mean-spirited book review.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of mean-spirited
While most are supportive, a fair number are critical, even mean-spirited.
—
Barbara Vandenburgh, USA TODAY, 16 June 2023
Barbara Vandenburgh, USA TODAY, 16 June 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mean-spirited
Adjective
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Everybody else has no choice, really, other than to bring a cruel, narcissistic far-right leader to power.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2025
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Jokes that didn’t land with the squad The kids in Bad Influence say the pranks were the most cruel.—
Olivia B. Waxman,
Time,
9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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This was a vicious weaponization of your government.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Apr. 2025
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Shauna may be the vicious Antler Queen now, but Lottie also played a role in Mari’s death.—
Jackie Strause,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Except for then-Council member Dan Kalb, who suggested some remarks were crazy, not one council member rose to condemn these hateful falsehoods.—
Mark Cohen,
The Mercury News,
10 Mar. 2025
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Unfortunately, Oakland’s antisemitism has escalated beyond hateful words.—
Mark Cohen,
The Mercury News,
10 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Switching out a pump in a pit filled with raw sewage is nasty work.—
Tim Carter,
Hartford Courant,
12 Apr. 2025
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The bear is back and things may stay nasty for the rest of 2025.—
Brett Owens,
Forbes.com,
10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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In the wake of this tragedy, the family has been heartbroken to see that certain individuals have chosen to profit from their grief, spreading false and unkind stories about their mother.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
12 Mar. 2025
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Our oldest is a teenager and can see the unkind things being said online.—
Escher Walcott,
People.com,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Tim, Victoria, and Piper The episode begins with an obnoxious fake-out where Tim imagines killing himself, before sending most of the Ratliffs, save Saxon, off to the monastery so Tim and Victoria can have a look around this place where their daughter intends to live for at least a year.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
23 Mar. 2025
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Does so obnoxious a movie deserve even negative attention?—
Graham Hillard,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Several diss tracks followed, with the musicians hurling increasingly spiteful insults at each other relating to accusations of domestic abuse, exploitation and pedophilia.—
Winston Cho,
The Hollywood Reporter,
17 Mar. 2025
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The more spiteful Drake could smell a world of buff, misogynistic grifters taking hold and made sure to set up shop where the audience would be.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
7 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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According to an ancient Greek myth, all those who had fallen in love with the young man Narcissus were met with contemptuous rejection.—
Abigayle Ward,
Hartford Courant,
8 Mar. 2025
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The president was also profoundly contemptuous of women, kept his true opposition to female suffrage carefully hidden, and allowed the suffragists who silently held banners outside the White House to be repeatedly attacked by mobs, beaten, and jailed.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mean-spirited.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mean-spirited. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.
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