adjective
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informal irritable; annoyed
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informal (of the hair) unkempt or greasy
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slang shabby; dilapidated
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slang
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angry
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mad
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of, like, or full of rats
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ratty
Explanation
Things that remind you of a rat are ratty, and so are things that are generally worn and shabby. Your sister's pet ferret might make you jump when it peers out from behind the ratty old sofa with its ratty little eyes. If your attic is inhabited by a huge, multi-generational family of rats, it's ratty too. Whether this adjective is used to mean "looking like a rat," "full of rats," or "decrepit and dirty," it's negative. The same is generally true for rat itself, which refers to the rodent but also figuratively means "liar" or "traitor." The root of rat and ratty is unknown.
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.
See Examples For:
From musty star maps to ratty psychics, the movie so adores Los Angeles that Thomas Lennon’s hair stylist character is a riff on local billboard king Chaz Dean.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Reubens can be charming talking about “finding a character” just by putting on a ratty wig, and candid when he admits that Jay Longtoe — his Native American lounge singer character — was racist.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2025
Although most historical accounts date the arrival of brown rats to about 1775, new evidence suggests this ratty rivalry began much earlier.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 4, 2024
Poser and John Adams’s costumes are ratty but ravishing, and Trey Lindsay’s special visual effects are puke-inducingly effective.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
A twin-size bed with ratty gray sheets is pressed against the wall.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
I considered a flannel shirt but it was too hot so I opted for a rattier T-shirt than the one I had on.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2015
Up to then Rightist posters had been rattier than Madrid's.
From Time Magazine Archive
Charlie’s long gray hair was rattier than usual, and he had forgotten to put in his teeth.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
"I think I'm going to puke," Kurt moaned, looking even rattier than before and visibly greener as the pronouncement set in.
From Any Coincidence Is by Daniel Callahan
This giant was not ill-looking, but of a rattier intelligent aspect.
From Passages from the American Notebooks, Volume 1 by Nathaniel Hawthorne
You live in Seattle, a city that always ranks among the rattiest in the country.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 13, 2023
“I arrived at this boutique hotel and I’ve got this raincoat that is absolutely the rattiest thing you could ever see,” said Preminger.
From Fox News ● Apr. 10, 2019
“The best literature,” Malcolm Cowley said in a letter, “sometimes produces the rattiest psychological effects.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2017
Most tried to fit in, digging out their rattiest jeans and slowing down their speech.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2014
She had the rattiest collection of sick and sorry animals in her youth, and of sick and sorry friends as she grew older.
From Christina by L. G. Moberly
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.
