shabbyadjective
uk/ˈʃæb.i/us/ˈʃæb.i/shabby adjective (BAD CONDITION)
C1 looking old and in bad condition because of being used for a long time or not being cared for:
He wore a shabby old overcoat.
Her home is a rented one-bedroom apartment in a shabby part of town.
The refugees were shabby (= wore old clothes in bad condition) and hungry.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
In bad condition
- battered
- battle-scarred
- be on the skids idiom
- beat up
- blasted
- fleabitten
- have seen better days idiom
- hors de combat
- impair
- in good, bad, etc. repair idiom
- sad
- scuff
- shattered
- shop-soiled
- shopworn
- worn out
- worse
- worsen
- wrack
- wrecked
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shabby adjective (NOT FAIR)
C2 not honourable or fair; unacceptable:
She spoke out about the shabby way the case had been handled.
The company's treatment of women was shabby.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Dishonest
- bad faith
- be rotten to the core idiom
- be up to no good idiom
- bent
- cowboy
- down-and-dirty
- dubious
- false
- finagle
- fishy
- low-down
- malfeasance
- mendacious
- misleading
- perjure
- underhand
- unreliable
- unscrupulous
- unsporting
- weasel
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shabbily
adverb uk/ˈʃæb.əl.i/us/ˈʃæb.əl.i/
shabbily dressed
The hostages were shabbily treated when they came home.
shabbiness
noun [ U ] uk/ˈʃæb.i.nəs/us/ˈʃæb.i.nəs/
Idiom(s)
not so shabby/not too shabby