Meaning & use

not too shabby

phrase·Everyday

Used informally to say that something is quite good, often better than expected.

See it in a sentence

He finished the race in under two hours, which is not too shabby for a first attempt.

The rookie scored twenty points in her debut game, not too shabby at all.

A note on using this word

This is a casual, understated way of giving praise, common in spoken American English.

Words with a similar meaning

pretty gooddecent

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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