as in cruel
feeling or showing a desire to cause harm or pain
a mean-spirited person He wrote a mean-spirited book review.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of mean-spirited
While most are supportive, a fair number are critical, even mean-spirited.
—
Barbara Vandenburgh, USA TODAY, 16 June 2023
Barbara Vandenburgh, USA TODAY, 16 June 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mean-spirited
Adjective
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Everybody else has no choice, really, other than to bring a cruel, narcissistic far-right leader to power.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2025
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Jokes that didn’t land with the squad The kids in Bad Influence say the pranks were the most cruel.—
Olivia B. Waxman,
Time,
9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Softened by pride, Amber slinks away herself, albeit much more cutely than Gregory and accompanied by a vicious side-eye.—
Ile-Ife Okantah,
Vulture,
3 Apr. 2025
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The Kansas City Glory’s season opener was set to begin on Saturday afternoon, but viral sensation Elena Easley was sitting on the field, experiencing a vicious headache.—
PJ Green,
Kansas City Star,
30 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Maryland’s Salvadoran community relives surge in hateful rhetoric When a wave of Salvadorans first migrated to Maryland, there was a stereotype that they were affiliated with gangs like MS-13, Perez said.—
Polo Sandoval,
CNN Money,
4 Apr. 2025
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Utah has become a hateful place, guest columnist ML Cavanaugh writes.—
Ryan Fonseca,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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His other performances included as Robert De Niro’s nasty henchman in Michael Mann’s Heat (1995); as Marlon Brando’s insane assistant in John Frankenheimer’s The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) and as the suave crook Simon Templar in Phillip Noyce’s The Saint (1997).—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Apr. 2025
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The veteran forward took a nasty fall with 3:21 left in the fourth quarter, landed hard on his tailbone, and spent minutes down on the court surrounded by teammates and coaches.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
30 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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In the wake of this tragedy, the family has been heartbroken to see that certain individuals have chosen to profit from their grief, spreading false and unkind stories about their mother.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
12 Mar. 2025
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Our oldest is a teenager and can see the unkind things being said online.—
Escher Walcott,
People.com,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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True, Lochlan, the sweetest or in any case the least obnoxious Ratliff, survives.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Apr. 2025
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This makes the game more tactical and prevents obnoxious third-partying from teams that come swooping down from the air.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Several diss tracks followed, with the musicians hurling increasingly spiteful insults at each other relating to accusations of domestic abuse, exploitation and pedophilia.—
Winston Cho,
The Hollywood Reporter,
17 Mar. 2025
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The more spiteful Drake could smell a world of buff, misogynistic grifters taking hold and made sure to set up shop where the audience would be.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
7 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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According to an ancient Greek myth, all those who had fallen in love with the young man Narcissus were met with contemptuous rejection.—
Abigayle Ward,
Hartford Courant,
8 Mar. 2025
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The president was also profoundly contemptuous of women, kept his true opposition to female suffrage carefully hidden, and allowed the suffragists who silently held banners outside the White House to be repeatedly attacked by mobs, beaten, and jailed.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mean-spirited.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mean-spirited. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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