ragamuffin

American  

[rag-uh-muhf-in] / ˈræg əˌmʌf ɪn /

noun

1. a ragged, disreputable person; tatterdemalion.

2. a child in ragged, ill-fitting, dirty clothes.

   Synonyms:

   street arab, guttersnipe, urchin, waif

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ragamuffin British  

/ ˈræɡəˌmʌfɪn /

noun

1. a ragged unkempt person, esp a child

2. another name for ragga

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Etymology

Origin of ragamuffin

1350–1400; Middle English Ragamoffyn, name of a demon in the poem Piers Plowman

Example Sentences

Yet through whatever alchemy of grit, resilience and compulsion, Misty Copeland, a 65lb ragamuffin when she arrived at Bradley’s class, beat the odds.

From The Guardian

“I grew up a little ragamuffin in a town of 200 people. How was I supposed to know what to do? “

From Washington Times

He met to chat in the cafe of the Carlyle Hotel, an unlikely haunt for his slightly ragamuffin, plaid-shirt-wearing self, which seems to belong in the 1990s-era Lower East Side.

From New York Times

Hoboken, N.J., is a community that has made the ragamuffin transition complete: Its Ragamuffin Parade and costume contest are on Halloween afternoon.

From New York Times

Actually, you are a “worm,” a ragamuffin trying to escape a haunted orphanage populated by grim oddities with devilish, agonized faces.

From Washington Post