meanness

[ meen-nis ]

/ ˈmin nɪs /

the state or quality of being mean.

a mean act: to answer meannesses with forgiveness.

Origin of meanness

First recorded in 1550–60; mean² + -ness

Rather than feel guilt, people who have hurt us typically start to hate us - for reminding them of their own meanness.

How to Be Smart on Twitter |Alain de Botton |November 30, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
The whole gag stinks of meanness—to Holly, to Kevin, to the mentally disabled community.

‘The Office’ Used to Be a Great Show. No, Really! See Proof (VIDEO) |Kevin Fallon |May 14, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
It is “suspended from the nastiness of life and the meanness of the dead.”

How Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ Is Taught in Schools |Anna Clark |October 4, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
Rich and poor despise each other, and all justify their meanness in the most appallingly self-serving ways imaginable.

‘The Casual Vacancy’ Review: J.K. Rowling Cuts Loose From Harry Potter |Malcolm Jones |September 27, 2012 |DAILY BEAST

His meanness toward religious people was unbearably callous and smug.

Remembering the Real Genius of Christopher Hitchens, Not the Caricature |Lee Siegel |December 18, 2011 |DAILY BEAST
Religion should never be associated in the mind of a child with injustice, cruelty, or any meanness.

Dickens As an Educator |James L. (James Laughlin) Hughes
If he were capable of such a meanness, was he to be trusted in anything else?

Reginald Cruden |Talbot Baines Reed
As for the question of meanness, that will never be considered for a moment.

The Squire's Daughter |Silas K(itto) Hocking
The government of China is one of fear; and it has produced the usual effects,—duplicity and meanness.

Foot-prints of a letter carrier |James Rees
And this was the brother whom he had been holding up to ridicule and accusing of meanness.

Amos Huntingdon |T.P. Wilson