meanness

meanness

English

Etymology

mean +‎ -ness

Noun

meanness (countable and uncountable, plural meannesses)

1. (uncountable) The condition, or quality, of being mean (any of its definitions)

   This figure is of a later date, by the meanness of the workmanship. Addison

2. (countable) A mean act.
   • 1908, The World's Work (volume 16, page 10497)

     There are enough meannesses in everyone — ourselves included — to make for us a contemptible world, if we select the meannesses and let our minds dwell upon them.

Antonyms

• nobility
• nobleness

Translations

the condition or quality of being mean

Irish: cneámhaireacht f, suarachas m Italian: grettezza f, meschinità (it) f, taccagneria (it) f

Japanese: 卑劣 (ja) (hiretsu), 下劣 (geretsu) Latvian: zemiskums m

a mean act

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: (please verify) mezquindad (es) f

References

• meanness in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.