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

But to think of her partaking of hospitality—all alone, too—with the canaille of Wynford!”

From A Very Naughty Girl by Meade, L. T.

Equally canaille, the preliminary occupations of these grisettes differed only in taste.

From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Saltus, Edgar

When I am in the bill at Les ambassadeurs, the place is always full of English—my songs are canaille, aren't they? really canaille.

From Woman and Artist by O'Rell, Max

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