raffish
Americanadjective
-
mildly or sometimes engagingly disreputable or nonconformist.
a matinee idol whose raffish offstage behavior amused millions.
-
gaudily vulgar or cheap; tawdry.
- Synonyms:
- inelegant, tasteless, loud, gaudy, garish, flamboyant, flashy, showy, tawdry, gimcrack, tinsel, cheap, tacky, vulgar, crass
- Antonyms:
- understated, reserved, quiet, plain, simple, high-class, classy, refined, elegant, tasteful
adjective
-
careless or unconventional in dress, manners, etc; rakish
-
tawdry; flashy; vulgar
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of raffish
Explanation
Someone raffish is a bit of a scoundrel, carelessly making mischief. Your raffish classmate might constantly play mean practical jokes, always denying responsibility with a charming smile. If you're raffish, you're a "rake" or a "cad." Though you're pretty much bad news, you pull off your dastardly deeds in an attractive manner. Someone with a raffish look is intriguing as well as disreputable. Raffish comes from riff-raff, "generally undesirable people," from the Medieval French rifle et rafle, "stealing from the bodies of the dead on the battlefield."
Vocabulary lists containing raffish
A Streetcar Named Desire
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The Once and Future King
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Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One ghost is a raffish Frenchman who exclaims, “quelle horreur!”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026
Now combined into a single storefront, the current retail space retains raffish details of its liquor-store days, including a retro red-and-blue neon sign and period gilt window lettering advertising cognacs and cordials.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 28, 2022
But logic isn’t the point of a story populated by a cast of colorfully raffish hit men, ne’er-do-wells, a precocious chaos merchant and an ever-looming crime kingpin called the White Death.
From Washington Post • Aug. 2, 2022
Being known as a raffish rule-breaker has always been a key element of Boris Johnson’s political brand.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 27, 2022
Growing up, I was always tickled by this raffish personal connection to history: part of the Puritans, but not actually puritanical.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
