shabby-genteel
trying to maintain dignity and self-respect despite shabbiness.
Origin of shabby-genteel
1Other words from shabby-genteel
- shab·by-gen·til·i·ty [shab-ee-jen-til-i-tee], /ˈʃæb i dʒɛnˈtɪl ɪ ti/, noun
Words Nearby shabby-genteel
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use shabby-genteel in a sentence
Tom saw a shabby-genteel sort of person, whose back was towards him, directing a letter.
Handy Andy, Volume 2 (of 2) | Samuel LoverHe joined the ranks of the shabby-genteel to live somehow by bits of honest work, mixed with a great deal of dishonest work.
London's Underworld | Thomas HolmesThe doctor sat in a little parlour, in a shabby-genteel street of close-packed middle London.
For six years Amelia did live on this pittance in shabby genteel poverty with her boy and her parents in Fulham.
The World's Greatest Books, Vol VIII | Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.He had sat by, and let this shabby-genteel doctor, years older than the girl, walk away with her.
The Breaking Point | Mary Roberts Rinehart
British Dictionary definitions for shabby-genteel
preserving or aspiring to the forms and manners of gentility despite appearing shabby
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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