tatterdemalion
Americannoun
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of tatterdemalion
1600–10; first written tatter-de-mallian and rhymed with Italian; see tatter 1; -de-mallian < ?
Explanation
Use the word tatterdemalion for anyone who's dressed in messy, ragged clothes. You may want to call your brother a tatterdemalion if he shows up for Thanksgiving dinner wearing a dirty sweatshirt and his favorite ripped jeans. A slightly more common word for a tatterdemalion is a ragamuffin. As an adjective, tatterdemalion means "unkempt" or "shoddy," so go ahead and ask your brother, "Why are you wearing that tatterdemalion outfit?" While the tatter part of the word is fairly clear (a tatterdemalion's clothing is in tatters), the ending is a mystery. There may be a connection to the French de maillot, or "shirt."
Vocabulary lists containing tatterdemalion
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.
Off it flaps on tatterdemalion wings to wreak much CG-enabled property damage on downtown Philadelphia, where the picture is set.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
Arriving two weeks before the release of “Bones and All,” Luca Guadagnino’s tatterdemalion drifter romance, the director’s “Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams” surveys a more refined coupling, not of people, but of pumps.
From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
They perched on fence posts, on the roofs of vans, in tatterdemalion back yards.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 3, 2018
Last week, with 700 other pilgrims from Portugal's now tatterdemalion empire, another King Dom Pedro, successor to an empty title, was in Rome to celebrate the canonization of Portugal's missionary saint, Jo?o de Britto.*
From Time Magazine Archive
And even the steadfast Washington, with his tatterdemalion army reduced to three thousand effectives, wrote that if new troops could not be raised without delay "the game is nearly up."
From Beginnings of the American People by William E. Dodd
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.
