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 →

2) Meanness is not wanting to share or spend money; being stingy. tree →

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 →
• Scrooge was famous for his meanness with money. tree →
• There was no meanness in her; she shared everything. tree →
• We talked about how meanness hurts feelings. tree →
• His meanness meant he never bought anyone a drink. tree →
• Kindness is the cure for meanness. tree →
• 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 →

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.
• Copying a mean player spreads the meanness to someone new.
• Understanding why someone is mean does not make the meanness okay, but it can change how you respond.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «meanness» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.