Meanings
- uncountableThe process of becoming shabby; one whereby something, such as clothing or a place, becomes scruffy or otherwise falls into poor condition due to age or neglect.
The opposite of gentrification—call it shabbification—would emerge, as city housing stock becomes more and more degraded.
2019 May 20, Howard Husock, “Legislating Shabbiness”, in City Journal, archived from the original on 20 May 20192 more examples
He was aware that some of this shabbification of Vuitton chic would run into trouble with the company’s strict quality control.
1997 September 14, Zoë Heller, “Jacobs' Ladder”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 20 Oct 2025What is happening in this community is something like the opposite of gentrification—call it “shabbification.” And while the predicament is not unique to Stockton—cities and towns across the nation are suffering similar downslides in the wake of the housing bust—it is particularly acute in this Central Valley city of 290,000 residents.
2011 January 27, Sasha Abramsky, “Stockton Goes Bust”, in The Nation, archived from the original on 17 Jan 2021
Origin
By surface analysis, shabby + -ification.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with shabbification
Cite this entry
shabbification. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shabbification
“shabbification.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shabbification. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shabbification,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shabbification.
Source: shabbification on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.