mean-spirited Hear it!

mean-spirited Definition

mean·-spirited (mēn′spir′it id)

adjective

characterized by or displaying a propensity to be mean; selfish, malicious, etc.

mean-spirited Related Forms
mean′·-spir′itedness noun
mean-spirited Synonyms

mean-spirited

modif.

base, timid, servile; see cowardly, mean 1, weak 3.

mean-spirited Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • attack: He has often been accused of a mean-spirited attack: in fact his book is extraordinarily restrained.
  • method: Things turn ugly when she's reduced to using the same mean-spirited methods as the other girls.
  • approach: The Blair Government has taken a disappointingly mean-spirited approach toward pensioners and lone parents in particular.
  • individual: Adverse thoughts can be extended from a psychic vampire or a mean-spirited individual onto you.
  • way: Joyce, Beckett, Wilde and Shaw all fled its mean-spirited ways.

Modifying Another Word

  • not: Loesser's lyrics are funny, sharp-edged but not mean-spirited.