Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having a mean spirit; spiritless; groveling.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of a mean spirit; petty; small-minded; base; groveling; -- of people.
  • adjective Done for malevolent reasons; -- of deeds and actions.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Alternative spelling of mean-spirited.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality
  • adjective lacking in magnanimity

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word meanspirited.

Examples

  • I mean, that first documentary you started — the one about how I looked like him, and I was destined to act like him — to be honest, I thought it was plain meanspirited.

    Director's Cut 2005

  • I mean, that first documentary you started — the one about how I looked like him, and I was destined to act like him — to be honest, I thought it was plain meanspirited.

    Director's Cut 2005

  • I mean, that first documentary you started — the one about how I looked like him, and I was destined to act like him — to be honest, I thought it was plain meanspirited.

    Director's Cut 2005

  • Now, members of that same group are criticizing two people for making "meanspirited" comments about Catholics.

    Second Blogger Quits Edwards Campaign 2009

  • But even as he fired Muhammad and called his words "meanspirited," there was Farrakhan on CNN last week saying that 75 percent of slaves in the American South were owned by Jews.

    On Hate: Censure, Not Censor 2008

  • It seems oddly coincidental, too, that in a movie teeming with churchly blondes, including Bethany's mother (Helen Hunt), the one meanspirited character in the movie—Bethany's rival Malina Birch (Sonya Balmores Chung)—is also the darkest of skin and blackest of hair.

    'Arthur': He Drinks, Movie Falls Down John Anderson 2011

  • A life-long friend described Mitchell as "meanspirited, grotesque, and humorless."

    A Fiercely Gifted Artist Karen WIlkin 2011

  • The leftist liberal media must be in complete fear of her that they have to resort to such hateful and meanspirited things to make her look bad or cast a negative light on her.

    Palin hits back at 'malicious' photo 2009

  • Drum argues that “In the marketplace we are competitive, selfish, meanspirited, and xenophobic” but that we can lift ourselves up as a society by behaving better in the ballot box.

    Answering Jason Furman, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • How do we expect kids to act when they see adults acting foolish, meanspirited and hateful?

    Racist e-mail aimed at Obama raises hackles in Tennessee 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.