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ratty

[ rat-ee ]
/ ˈræt i /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ratty ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, rat·ti·er, rat·ti·est.

full of rats.
of or characteristic of a rat.
wretched; shabby: a ratty, old overcoat.
Slang. irritable or angry; bad-tempered; nasty: I always feel ratty when I wake up.

RELATED WORDS

worn, decayed, dilapidated, old, unkempt

Nearby words

  1. rattlingly,
  2. rattly,
  3. ratton,
  4. rattoon,
  5. rattrap,
  6. ratushinskaya,
  7. rau,
  8. raucity,
  9. raucous,
  10. raucously

Origin of ratty

First recorded in 1860–65; rat + -y1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ratty

British Dictionary definitions for ratty

ratty

/ (ˈrætɪ) /

adjective -tier or -tiest

British and NZ informal irritable; annoyed
informal (of the hair) unkempt or greasy
US and Canadian slang shabby; dilapidated
Australian slang
  1. angry
  2. mad
of, like, or full of rats
Derived Formsrattily, adverbrattiness, noun
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
Word Origin and History for ratty

ratty

adj.

1856, "resembling a rat;" 1865, "full of rats;" 1867, "wretched, miserable, shabby," from rat (n.) + -y (2).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper