shabby

Word family

shab·by /ˈʃæbi/ adjectiveadj

1 CONDITION/STATE OF somethingshabby clothes, places, or objects are untidy and in bad condition because they have been used for a long time 肮脏破旧的

Hugh’s jacket was old and shabby.

休的夹克衫又旧又破。

a shabby little restaurant

一家肮脏的小餐馆

2 CONDITION/STATE OF somethingwearing clothes that are old and worn 衣衫褴褛的，衣着寒酸的

a shabby tramp

一个衣衫褴褛的流浪汉

3 UNFAIR old-fashionedUNKIND unfair and unkind 不公平的；不仁慈的

a shabby trick

卑鄙的花招

—shabbily adverbadv

—shabbiness noun [uncountableU]

Examples from the Corpus

shabby• After this, Tate Britain at Millbank feels cramped, parsimonious and a bit shabby.• By then, of course, it was totally shabby.• She wore shabby black clothes, with holes in the elbows of her jacket.• John was standing in the doorway in his shabby blue suit.• Politically, it was essential last summer to distance the government from what had clearly been a shabby episode.• Much to the consternation of the operators, Humphrey's shabby figure would appear and then disappear into high-speed machinery.• shabby hotel rooms• Solid provincial comfort, a little shabby now, but solid.• a shabby old man• a shabby suit• The villages and towns they passed through were shabby where buildings had long since been left to decay.• At 29 Howard's Avenue the builder's skip was still outside and the rusty scaffolding blinded its shabby windows.

Origin shabby

(1600-1700) shab “scab, worthless man” ((11-19 centuries)), from Old English sceabb “scab”

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus