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# shabby

«shabby» in Mova's school dictionary: **old, worn and untidy from a lot of use** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (shabby, shabbier, shabbiest)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Shabby means old, worn and untidy from a lot of use. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#m1)

2) Shabby means dressed in old, worn clothes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#m2)

3) Shabby means unfair or mean, as in «a shabby trick». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#m3)

4) (informal) «Not shabby» means quite good. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In stories: shabby coats, shabby houses show that people are poor or things are old. In everyday talk: «That was a shabby way to treat her». Phrases: «shabby clothes», «shabby treatment», «not too shabby».

### examples

- He wore a shabby old coat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#x1)
- The hotel was shabby and needed painting. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#x2)
- That was a shabby trick to play on your friend. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#x3)
- The sofa looked shabby but was very comfy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#x4)
- «Second place? Not too shabby!» said Dad. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#x5)
- The shabby teddy was her favourite. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#x6)
- Directly the Princess Badoura saw the prince she recognised him in spite of his shabby clothes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shabby/#x7)

### note

Comparative: shabbier, shabbiest (y → i). Adverb: shabbily. «Not too shabby» is informal praise.

### In the corpora

- [The Rat digs on and finds a shabby door-mat.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/36-willows-ch3-part4-the-door-scraper/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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