ragamuffin
Americannoun
-
a ragged, disreputable person; tatterdemalion.
-
a child in ragged, ill-fitting, dirty clothes.
- Synonyms:
- guttersnipe, urchin, waif
noun
-
a ragged unkempt person, esp a child
-
another name for ragga
Etymology
Origin of ragamuffin
1350–1400; Middle English Ragamoffyn, name of a demon in the poem Piers Plowman
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.
How this riff-drunk ragamuffin, who turns 82 on Dec. 18, not only survived but stayed relevant is a mystery, a puzzle wrapped inside a guitar string.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025
To some, he was a rollicking drifter in ragamuffin punk tatters.
From BBC • Dec. 2, 2023
A ragamuffin looking for a meal, Eurydice receives instead a feast of affection that includes a proposition of marriage.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2022
After some pirate shenanigans, and a switcheroo of cargo between two ships, the amusingly convoluted plot lands Peter, his two ragamuffin pals and the very plucky and initially condescending Molly into many a threatening jam.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 23, 2016
Babci sat at her kitchen table, wearing one of my grandfather’s old dress shirts, her hair half up and half down, the picture of a ragamuffin.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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.
