raffish
- mildly or sometimes engagingly disreputable or nonconformist; rakish: a matinee idol whose raffish offstage behavior amused millions.
- gaudily vulgar or cheap; tawdry.
Origin of raffish
Related Words for raffish
rakish, disreputable, bohemian, jaunty, careless, casual, coarse, dashing, devil-may-care, fast, gay, sporty, tasteless, tawdry, unconventional, uncouth, vulgar, wildExamples from the Web for raffish
Contemporary Examples of raffish
Visiting him in his room at the raffish Chelsea Hotel, I noticed that there was a crumpled cigarette package under the bed.
Historical Examples of raffish
Raffish and flamboyant, he lounged forward to the window of the carriage.
A Daughter of RaasayWilliam MacLeod Raine
Raffish party too, spy and conspirator persuasion, that sort of thing.
NevermoreRolf Boldrewood
And oh the raffish counts and more than doubtful countesses, the noodles and the blacklegs, the good society!
And there are screeching Cockney women, raw and raffish, brutalized children, and men who would survive in the fiercest jungle.
Nights in LondonThomas Burke
You see, he is himself pater familias, with no Bohemian trait or raffish turn.
John Leech, His Life and Work, Vol. II (of II)William Powell Frith
raffish
- careless or unconventional in dress, manners, etc; rakish
- tawdry; flashy; vulgar
Word Origin for raffish
Word Origin and History for raffish
"disreputable, vulgar," 1801 (first attested in Jane Austen), from raff "people," usually of a lower sort (1670s), probably from rif and raf (mid-14c.) "everyone," from Middle English raf, raffe "one and all, everybody" (see riffraff). Related: Raffishly; raffishness.