Definition

1. Adverb:
   • In a miserly or stingy manner: Acting with a lack of generosity; in a way that shows unwillingness to spend money or share resources.
   • Poorly or in an inferior manner: In a way that is inadequate, of low quality, or insufficient.
   • In a despicable or ignoble manner: Behaving in a way that shows a lack of honor, dignity, or moral principles; contemptibly.
   • In a nasty, ill-tempered manner: Speaking or acting in an unkind, spiteful, or malicious way.

Usage Examples

• In a miserly manner:
  • He lived meanly, saving every penny and never treating himself.
  • The landlord meanly refused to fix the heating, despite the cold winter.
• Poorly or in an inferior manner:
  • The soldiers were meanly equipped, lacking proper boots and warm clothing.
  • The room was meanly furnished with just a bed and a chair.
• In a despicable manner:
  • He meanly betrayed his closest friend for personal gain.
  • The politician meanly spread lies about his opponent.
• In a nasty, ill-tempered manner:
  • "You'll get no help from me," she said meanly, turning her back.
  • The critic meanly dismissed the artist's entire life's work.

Advanced Usage

• "to think meanly of someone": to have a low or contemptuous opinion of a person.
  • After the scandal, many began to think meanly of the once-respected CEO.
• "to live meanly": to live in a frugal, often excessively stingy way, sometimes implying a lack of dignity.
  • Despite his wealth, he chose to live meanly in a small, unheated apartment.

Variants and Related Words

• Mean (adjective): Unkind, nasty, or stingy. (e.g., )
• Meanness (noun): The quality of being mean. (e.g., )

Synonyms

• Stingily: In a miserly way.
• Contemptibly: In a despicable manner.
• Spitefully: In a nasty, malicious manner.
• Shabbily: In a poor or inferior way.

Related Phrases

• To act meanly: To behave in a stingy, nasty, or dishonorable way.
  • He acted meanly by taking credit for his colleague's idea.
• To speak meanly: To say something in a nasty or ill-tempered way.
  • She spoke meanly to the waiter over a minor mistake.

Idioms

• To be meanly born: (Archaic) To be of low social origin.
  • In the old story, the knight, though meanly born, proved himself through bravery.

Adverb

1. in a miserly manner
   • they lived meanly and without ostentation
2. poorly or in an inferior manner
   • troops meanly equipped
3. in a despicable, ignoble manner
   • this new leader meanly threatens the deepest values of our society
4. in a nasty ill-tempered manner
   • `Don't expect me to help you,' he added nastily