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Webster 1913 Edition


mean-spirited

mean′spirˊit-ed

,

mean′-spirˊit-ed

,
Adj.
1.
Of a mean spirit; petty; small-minded; base; groveling; – of people.
Mean′-spirˊit-ed-ness
,
Noun.

Definition 2024


mean-spirited

mean-spirited

See also: meanspirited and mean spirited

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

mean-spirited (comparative more mean-spirited, superlative most mean-spirited)

  1. Having a base, nasty, petty, or malevolent disposition.
    • 1877, Edward Payson Roe, A Knight Of The Nineteenth Century, ch. 15,
      My old acquaintances would sneer at me as a mean-spirited cur, whose best exploit was to get in jail.

References

  • mean-spirited in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • mean-spirited” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
  • Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.