English

Alternative forms

• mean spirited
• meanspirited

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.