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caitiff

American  
[key-tif] / ˈkeɪ tɪf /

noun

  1. a base, despicable person.


adjective

  1. base; despicable.

caitiff British  
/ ˈkeɪtɪf /

noun

  1. a cowardly or base person

"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

adjective

  1. cowardly; base

"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

Etymology

Origin of caitiff

1250–1300; Middle English caitif < Anglo-French < Latin captīvus captive

Vocabulary lists containing caitiff

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.

If a celebrated classroom caitiff like Peck's Bad Boy or Huckleberry Finn were to cut his swath through a U. S. school today, he would probably get off with a restrained scolding.

From Time Magazine Archive

The caitiff who had undersold them was in the village at that moment!

From The Woodlands Orchids by Boyle, Frederick

For Newcastle had betrayed him to the last; the magpie cunning of that old caitiff paralysed every arm that might have defended him.

From Lord Chatham His Early Life and Connections by Rosebery, Archibald Phillip Primrose

You are an arrant rogue, a caitiff vile; there can be naught between us.

From The Mesa Trail by Bedford-Jones, H.

Thereupon the villein, the caitiff, the felon, climbeth up and taketh the bird.

From Tales from the Old French by Various