canaille

American  

[kuh-neyl, ka-nah-y^uh] / kəˈneɪl, kaˈnɑ yə /

noun

1. riffraff; rabble.

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canaille British  

/ kanɑj /

noun

1. the masses; mob; rabble

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Etymology

Origin of canaille

1670–80; < French < Italian canaglia pack of dogs, equivalent to can ( e ) dog (< Latin canis ) + -aglia collective suffix

Example Sentences

He knew nothing of that silent middle class that struggled between genteel poverty and the impossible desire of emulating the golden canaille to which he himself belonged.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

The canaille that had crouched for a century seemed in some unaccountable way to be changing its posture!

From The Red Cockade by Weyman, Stanley John

The enemies of the church are to be found almost exclusively in the bourgeoisie, and still more in the canaille, of that literature.

From The Philosophy of History, Vol. 1 of 2 by Schlegel, Friedrich

Mon cher,' said the other, 'you and I were once gentlemen—we talked, ate, drank, and dressed as such; we have now the canaille life, and the past is scarcely even a dream.'

From Gerald Fitzgerald The Chevalier by Lever, Charles James

"Regard me simply in the light of a son who wishes to bury his father, and who is prevented from fulfilling that most sacred duty by the wickedness and malice of the canaille."

From Regina or the Sins of the Fathers by Sudermann, Hermann