rattish

American

[rat-ish] / ˈræt ɪʃ /

adjective

of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or resembling a rat.
infested with rats.

rattish British

/ ˈrætɪʃ /

adjective

of, resembling, or infested with rats

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of rattish

First recorded in 1680–90; rat + -ish ¹

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.

Perhaps that race is a little less rattish now.

From The Guardian

There was no danger of that happening for Gary Busey, his rattish brother from another mother.

From The Guardian

They had rattish pointed faces and tiny pink hands, like the servitor who had brought her the glass of shade.

From Literature

I believe he is a near Relation To our Allies the Rattish Nation: His Ears and Whiskers are the same With ours, I would have ask'd his Name, When with his harsh and horrid sound The other made me quit my Ground.

From Project Gutenberg

A trifle irritable now and again; or more sulky and disagreeable than I care to admit; or at times even harsh, morose, surly, snappish, rattish, and short-tempered, all little failings you have no doubt noticed, and which now, knowing my early misfortune, you will more readily excuse.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023