tattered
Americanadjective
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ragged or worn
a tattered old book
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wearing ragged or torn clothing
tattered refugees
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damaged, defeated, or in disarray
he believes he can bring the tattered party together
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tattered
Explanation
If something's tattered, it's worn ragged. You'll understand tattered if your dress has been dragging under your car for the last 100 miles. It will be a tattered mess. Tattered often applies to clothes. If you're a nice guy, you might give your coat to the homeless man with the coat that's so tattered it's threadbare and see-through. You can also use tattered figuratively, for something that's in shambles, like the tattered reputation you would have if you embezzled from your grandmother. The word tattered comes from Middle English, from a time when people wore clothing with decorative slashes, and apparently tatter originally meant "a scrap of cloth."
Vocabulary lists containing tattered
The Diary of Anne Frank
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Chains
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The Circuit
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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.
Their tattered remnants, barely held together with patches and stitching, are poignant metaphors for a battered will that keeps fighting even as protections wear thin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
To create one of his characters, “the last lost boy,” Cardoza took self-portraits wearing a three-faced mask and a tattered brown jacket.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
Surrounded by sons and grandsons under a clattering ceiling fan, Safi showed the tattered identity document he has kept since fleeing the Soviet occupation more than four decades ago.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Soon after the start of the Civil War, Church turned the atmospheric effects of a rising sun, striated clouds, and stars peeking through a patch of sky into a tattered Union flag.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
And Essa, who wisely guided me from the tattered pages of a book.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
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.
