shabby genteel
/ˈʃæbi dʒɛnˈtil/
adjective
- Trying to appear elegant or respectable but showing signs of poverty or neglect.
- The shabby-genteel hotel had threadbare carpets but still called itself 'The Grand.'
- She wore a shabby-genteel dress, clean but faded, with lace at the collar.
- Their shabby-genteel neighborhood had once been fashionable, but now the houses were crumbling.
Antonyms