meanspirited
- Adjective:
- Petty, ungenerous, or ignoble in character: Describes a person, action, or attitude that is characterized by a lack of nobility, generosity, or honor. It suggests pettiness, malice, or a small-minded focus on one's own interests at the expense of others.
The adjective "meanspirited" is used to describe people or their actions that are considered unkind, petty, or lacking in generosity. It is a critical term implying moral or ethical smallness. - It typically functions as an attributive adjective (e.g., a meanspirited comment) or a predicative adjective (e.g., His actions were meanspirited). - It describes a permanent or inherent quality rather than a temporary state.
- Attributive use:
- She made a meanspirited remark about his appearance.
- The meanspirited policy only served to punish the most vulnerable.
- Predicative use:
- Refusing to help was incredibly meanspirited.
- His criticism seemed petty and meanspirited.
- "meanspiritedness" (noun): The quality or state of being meanspirited.
- The sheer meanspiritedness of the legislation shocked many observers.
- Mean-spirited: A common hyphenated variant of "meanspirited." Both forms are correct.
- Petty (adj.): Concerned with trivial matters, especially in a small-minded or spiteful way.
- Ungenerous (adj.): Not generous; mean.
- Ignoble (adj.): Not honorable in character or purpose.
- Petty
- Ungenerous
- Small-minded
- Malicious
- Spiteful
- Base (archaic/literary in this sense)
- Magnanimous
- Generous
- Noble
- Big-hearted
- Charitable
While there is no specific phrasal verb for "meanspirited," the concept is central to several idioms describing petty behavior: - To have a mean streak: To have a tendency to be cruel or unkind. - To stoop to someone's level: To behave as badly as someone else, often in a petty way.
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having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality
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that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble- Edmund Burke
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taking a mean advantage
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chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort- Shakespeare
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something essentially vulgar and meanspirited in politics
-
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lacking in magnanimity
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it seems ungenerous to end this review of a splendid work of scholarship on a critical note- Times Litt. Sup.
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a meanspirited man unwilling to forgive
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