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 →

2) Shabby means dressed in old, worn clothes. tree →

3) Shabby means unfair or mean, as in «a shabby trick». tree →

4) (informal) «Not shabby» means quite good. tree →

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 →
• The hotel was shabby and needed painting. tree →
• That was a shabby trick to play on your friend. tree →
• The sofa looked shabby but was very comfy. tree →
• «Second place? Not too shabby!» said Dad. tree →
• The shabby teddy was her favourite. tree →
• Directly the Princess Badoura saw the prince she recognised him in spite of his shabby clothes. tree →

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.

Trees and pragmatics

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