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View synonyms for riffraff

riffraff

[ rif-raf ]

noun

  1. people, or a group of people, regarded as disreputable or worthless:

    a pack of riffraff.

  2. the lowest classes; rabble:

    the riffraff of the city.

  3. trash; rubbish.


adjective

  1. worthless, disreputable, or trashy.

riffraff

/ ˈrɪfˌræf /

noun

  1. worthless people, esp collectively; rabble
  2. dialect.
    worthless rubbish
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of riffraff1

1425–75; late Middle English rif and raf every particle, things of small value < Old French rif et raf, formed on rifler to spoil ( rifle 2 ), raffler to ravage, snatch away
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Word History and Origins

Origin of riffraff1

C15 rif and raf , from Old French rif et raf ; related to rifler to plunder, and rafle a sweeping up; see rifle ², raffle
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Example Sentences

He has some friends — acquaintances, really — whom he hates, mentally labeling them “the riffraff, the vulgarians, the slobs.”

She associated Georgia’s capital city with “crime” and “riffraff,” similar to how Trump once disparaged Atlanta as “crime infested” and “falling apart.”

Just before the riots he had also responded to a rowdy reception committee in one banlieue by calling them racaille - riffraff.

From BBC

Indeed, this “savage,” as Shakespeare took pains to note in his complicated depiction of Caliban, is a good deal more civilized than the drunken riffraff with whom he falls into cahoots.

“I’ve dealt with the riffraff on the street for 14 years so I know how to play that,” she said.

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