Crossword clues for meaner
meaner
- More ignoble
- More malevolent
- More insignificant
- More tightfisted
- Less nice
- More vicious
- More stingy
- More nasty
- Outdoing Scrooge
- Nowhere near as nice
- More ornery
- More ogreish
- More likely to bully
- More like a Pepperland villain
- Like bad, bad Leroy Brown vis-à-vis a junkyard dog, in song
- Less generous
- Less benevolent
- Less amiable
- Definitely not as nice
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Mean \Mean\ (m[=e]n), a. [Compar. Meaner (m[=e]n"[~e]r); superl. Meanest.] [OE. mene, AS. m[=ae]ne wicked; akin to m[=a]n, a., wicked, n., wickedness, OS. m[=e]n wickedness, OHG. mein, G. meineid perjury, Icel. mein harm, hurt, and perh. to AS. gem[=ae]ne common, general, D. gemeen, G. gemein, Goth. gam['a]ins, and L. communis. The AS. gem[=ae]ne prob. influenced the meaning.]
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Destitute of distinction or eminence; common; low; vulgar; humble. ``Of mean parentage.''
--Sir P. Sidney.The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself.
--Is. ii. 9. -
Wanting dignity of mind; low-minded; base; destitute of honor; spiritless; as, a mean motive.
Can you imagine I so mean could prove, To save my life by changing of my love ?
--Dryden. -
Of little value or account; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.
The Roman legions and great C[ae]sar found Our fathers no mean foes.
--J. Philips. Of poor quality; as, mean fare.
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Penurious; stingy; close-fisted; illiberal; as, mean hospitality.
Note: Mean is sometimes used in the formation of compounds, the sense of which is obvious without explanation; as, meanborn, mean-looking, etc.
Syn: Base; ignoble; abject; beggarly; wretched; degraded; degenerate; vulgar; vile; servile; menial; spiritless; groveling; slavish; dishonorable; disgraceful; shameful; despicable; contemptible; paltry; sordid. See Base.
Wiktionary
a. (en-comparative of: mean)
Usage examples of "meaner".
The benevolence of the master was so frequently prompted by the meaner suggestions of vanity and avarice, that the laws found it more necessary to restrain than to encourage a profuse and undistinguishing liberality, which might degenerate into a very dangerous abuse.
Byzantium, forced the less guarded passage of the Hellespont, and, impatient of a meaner enemy, pressed forward to encounter his rival.
Yet, even in the East, the sphere of contention is usually limited to the princes of the reigning house, and as soon as the more fortunate competitor has removed his brethren by the sword and the bowstring, he no longer entertains any jealousy of his meaner subjects.
The children of Constantius by his second marriage were six in number, three of either sex, and whose Imperial descent might have solicited a preference over the meaner extraction of the son of Helena.
He ascended a stately tribunal, encompassed by the ministers of justice and punishment: in the presence of both nations, this extraordinary cause was pleaded, according to the forms of civil jurisprudence, and some satisfaction was granted to an injured people, by the sentence and execution of the meaner criminals.
Yet Sira never shared the passions which she inspired, and the bliss of Chosroes was tortured by a jealous doubt, that while he possessed her person, she had bestowed her affections on a meaner favorite.
After such an example, it would be superfluous to enumerate the names and sufferings of meaner victims.
Of his moral virtues, chastity is not the most conspicuous: but the public happiness could not be materially injured by his nine wives or concubines, the various indulgence of meaner or more transient amours, the multitude of his bastards whom he bestowed on the church, and the long celibacy and licentious manners of his daughters, whom the father was suspected of loving with too fond a passion.
Gothic prince was lost in the waves, the pride and ignorance of the caliph must have been gratified with some meaner head, which was exposed in triumph before the palace of Damascus.
Despoiled of his arms, his jewels, and his purple, Romanus spent a dreary and perilous night on the field of battle, amidst a disorderly crowd of the meaner Barbarians.
Fatimite caliphs and the sultans of Damascus were tempted to sacrifice the cause of their religion to the meaner considerations of private and present advantage.
And yet those far-away homes looked ever so seductive, they were so remote from the troubled world, they dozed in such an atmosphere of peace and dreams--surely no one who has learned to live up there would ever want to live on a meaner level.
The meaner bards accompanied the artless luxury of the feast with the symphony of their harps.
Shall I press the unwilling beauty to my bosom, and riot in her hoard of charms, without waiting like meaner mortals to sue for the consent of her will?
If at that moment temptation approach, even a meaner and less potent temptation may then succeed.