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Grubby vs Shabby - What's the difference?

grubby | shabby |

As adjectives the difference between grubby and shabby

is that grubby is dirty, unwashed, unclean while shabby is torn or worn; poor; mean; ragged.

As a noun grubby

is any species of Cottus; a sculpin.

grubby

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Dirty, unwashed, unclean.
    • He's a grubby little boy, always playing around by the stream.
  • Having grubs in it.

    • Noun

    (grubbies)
  • (US, dialect) Any species of Cottus ; a sculpin.

    • shabby

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Torn or worn; poor; mean; ragged.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
    • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.}}
    They lived in a tiny apartment, with some old, shabby furniture.
  • Clothed with ragged, much worn, or soiled garments.
    • The fellow arrived looking rather shabby after journeying so far.
  • Mean; paltry; despicable.
    • shabby treatment

    Derived terms

    * shabby-genteel (Webster 1913)