Meanly describes doing something in a cruel, unkind, or small-minded way. When someone speaks meanly to another person, they use harsh words intended to hurt feelings. If a classmate meanly excludes someone from a game, they're being deliberately unkind.

The word captures both cruelty and pettiness. Someone acting meanly chooses to be unkind, in ways that seem unnecessary or small. A character in a story might meanly refuse to share, or meanly mock someone's efforts.

Meanly can also describe doing something in a stingy or inadequate way. A room meanly furnished has only the barest, cheapest furniture. Workers meanly paid receive far less than they deserve for their labor.

When you see meanly in a book, notice how it suggests not just what someone did, but the spirit behind it: a small, ungenerous attitude that makes the action worse than it might otherwise seem.