1
the meanness of sth
meanness 在表示“吝啬、小气”时，常与 of 连用，说明某物量少或价值低。
The meanness of the tip surprised the waiter.
小费之少让服务员感到惊讶。
吝啬
先理解核心含义，再看它在真实句子里的用法。
吝啬
extreme stinginess
The meanness of the tip surprised the waiter.
小费之少让服务员感到惊讶。
卑劣、吝啬、刻薄等的状态或品质。
The condition, or quality, of being mean (any of its definitions)
卑劣(或吝啬、刻薄)的行为。
A mean act.
Her meanness was obvious when she asked each guest to bring their own food to the party.
当她要每位客人自带食物来参加聚会时，她的吝啬就很明显了。
The landlord's meanness in refusing to fix the broken window annoyed every tenant.
房东拒绝修理破窗户的吝啬举动惹恼了每位房客。
His friends joked about his meanness because he never paid for coffee.
他的朋友拿他的吝啬开玩笑，因为他从不付咖啡钱。
meanness 在表示“吝啬、小气”时，常与 of 连用，说明某物量少或价值低。
The meanness of the tip surprised the waiter.
小费之少让服务员感到惊讶。
meanness 也可指“刻薄、卑鄙”，后接 towards/to sb，表示对某人不友善。
His meanness towards his classmates won him no friends.
他对同学的刻薄让他交不到朋友。
out of meanness 意为“出于吝啬”，说明行为动机，out of 后接名词。
She refused to lend her umbrella out of meanness.
她出于吝啬不肯借伞。
Not this
He showed a great meanness when he refused to pay.
Use this
He showed great meanness when he refused to pay.
meanness 表示“吝啬、小气”这一抽象品质时是不可数名词，前面不能加不定冠词 a；可用 great 表示程度，所以应说 showed great meanness。若想表示“一次刻薄行为”，应说 a mean act，而不是 a meanness。
Not this
I was angry with his meanness.
Use this
I was angry about his meanness.
be angry 接对象时，with 通常接人；about（也可用 at）用于事物、行为或品质。his meanness 指“他的小气/刻薄”这种品质，不是人，所以要把 with 改成 about。
Focus on the distinctions below. Other candidates are kept compact until a reliable usage note is available.
纯粹的吝啬
Refusing to tip the waiter was sheer meanness.
拒绝给服务员小费纯粹是吝啬。
在花钱上的吝啬
His meanness with money annoyed everyone in the office.
他在花钱上的吝啬让办公室里的每个人都很恼火。
出于吝啬
He didn't lend me a dollar out of meanness.
他连一美元都不肯借给我，纯粹是出于吝啬。
吝啬之举
Charging her for a glass of water was an act of meanness.
连一杯水都要向她收费，真是吝啬之举。
Use meanness naturally, then get feedback on meaning, tone, grammar, and phrasing.
Revisit a common error or keep this word in your review list.
拆开记：mean（吝啬的）+ ness（名词后缀），吝啬鬼的“本质”就是 meanness。mean 也含“卑鄙”，同源联想。
语域：neutral 常见场景：日常交谈、一般书面叙述 该词表示“极度吝啬”时通常用于中性或略带批评的语境，多出现在日常口语和一般书面语中。
greenness、keenness、cleanness、leanness 与 meanness 押韵，均以 /iːnnɪs/ 结尾。注意 menace 拼写相似，但读作 /ˈmenɪs/，与 meanness 不押韵。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.