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"shabby" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often ratty (5 letters).
Definitions
mean and unworthy and despicable
Word origin
The adjective is derived from shab (“(obsolete except UK, dialectal) scaly skin disease; skin disease of sheep; crust forming over wound, scab”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives).
Used in a sentence
“They lived in a tiny apartment, with some old, shabby furniture.”
“[A]s there was a stream of people pouring into a shabby house not far from the entrance, he waited until they had made their way in, […]”
“[They] lived […] in one of the shabbiest streets in the debatable land between Pimlico and Chelsea—by courtesy, South Belgravia.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Worn-out”6 letters
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