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# meanness

«meanness» in Mova's school dictionary: **being unkind or nasty to others** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (meanness, uncountable)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Meanness is being unkind or nasty to others. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/#m1)

2) Meanness is not wanting to share or spend money; being stingy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and ethics lessons: a character's meanness to others. In the UK «mean» often means stingy, so meanness can be about money; in the USA it mostly means unkindness.

### examples

- The bully's meanness made the little ones cry. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/#x1)
- Scrooge was famous for his meanness with money. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/#x2)
- There was no meanness in her; she shared everything. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/#x3)
- We talked about how meanness hurts feelings. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/#x4)
- His meanness meant he never bought anyone a drink. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/#x5)
- Kindness is the cure for meanness. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/#x6)
- Many a time her poor husband regretted the day that he had first seen her, and often her meanness and shabby ways put him to shame. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/#x7)

### note

Uncountable. Double n: mean + ness. From «mean» (unkind; UK also stingy). Do not confuse with «meaning» or «means» (a way, or money).

### In the corpora

- [Real predators hunt to eat, not out of anger or meanness, and many fail more hunts than they win.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/142-zootopia-real-sloths-shrews-predators-and-prey/15/)
- [Copying a mean player spreads the meanness to someone new.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/406-toxic-players-and-swearing/29/)
- [Understanding why someone is mean does not make the meanness okay, but it can change how you respond.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/reflection/28-reading-people-in-hard-times-whats-really-behind-the-mean-face/7/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «meanness» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/meanness/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.