rabble

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noun rab·ble \ ˈra-bəl \

Definition of rabble

1 :a disorganized or confused collection of things

2 a :a disorganized or disorderly crowd of people :mob

b :the lowest class of people

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Examples of rabble in a Sentence

the crown prince was reminded that even the rabble of the realm deserved his attention and compassion

Recent Examples of rabble from the Web

That’s part of the reason for our decade-old retreat to apps, where McModern design and the illusion of walls seems like a hedge against the malware and rabble of the original web metropolis.

— virginia heffernan, WIRED, "The Great Tech Panic: The Internet Is the Uncanniest Valley," 25 Aug. 2017
Patterson said that every year there are crashers, who merely slip into a red frock and join the rabble without paying the registration fee.

— doug maccash, NOLA.com, "Big changes to the 2017 Red Dress Run: New location, route," 1 Aug. 2017
Some UX proponents have realized this trap and reframed their design practice as a dialectic between the gifted and the rabble.

— ian bogost, The Atlantic, "Why a Toaster Is a Design Triumph," 20 July 2017
In Kobach’s world, white, God-fearing Americans are under assault from the brown, unhinged rabble.

— eric armstrong, New Republic, "Kris Kobach Is Preparing to Be the Next Trump," 7 July 2017
Sherven, 49, doesn't come across as a rabble-rouser.

— rick romell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "With deer hunting woven into our cultural and economic fabric, a threat to the herd could turn catastrophic," 6 July 2017
When the rabble show up with pitchforks and torches, the queen comes to the balcony and quiets them.

— christian lorentzen, New Republic, "The Beguiled: Not Shy About Violence," 23 June 2017
CMO Today’s Suzanne Vranica reports that J.P. Morgan is suspending advertising on NBC news programming until after the network airs anchor Megyn Kelly’s interview with right-wing rabble-rouser Alex Jones on Sunday.

— lara o’reilly, WSJ, "CMO Today: Snap Launches More Ad Tools; J.P. Morgan Pulls Ads from NBC Over Megyn Kelly Interview," 13 June 2017
Ortega, a freshman studying social work, did not expect to become an anti-government rabble-rouser.

— joshua partlow, Washington Post, "How a new kind of protest movement has risen in Venezuela," 3 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rabble.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Rabble has been with the English language since its appearance in Middle English (as "rabel") in the late 1300s. It may have come from the Middle English verb "rabel" which meant "to babble." (Despite the similarity in sound and meaning, however, "babble" and "rabble" are unrelated.) The verb "rabel" is related to Middle Dutch "rabbelen" and Low German rabbeln, meaning "to chatter." So how do we get from babbling to crowds of people? The connection may be the idea of confusion. "Rabble," in its earliest uses could not only indicate a pack of animals, swarm of insects, or a confused collection of things, but could also indicate a confused or meaningless string of words.

Origin and Etymology of rabble

Middle English rabel pack of animals

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

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rabble Synonyms

Synonyms

proletariat, rabblement, ragtag and bobtail, riffraff, rout, scum, tag, rag, and bobtail (or tagrag and bobtail), trash, unwashed

Antonyms

A-list, aristocracy, elite, gentry, quality, society, upper class, upper crust

Related Words

dregs; commoners, commons, herd, hoi polloi, masses, millions, mob, multitude, people, plebeians, populace, public, rank and file; bourgeoisie, middle class, working class

Near Antonyms

elect, establishment; gentlefolk (also gentlefolks), nobility, peerage

rabble

verb

Definition of rabble

rabbled; rabbling play \-b(ə-)liŋ\

transitive verb

:to insult or assault by or as a mob

First Known Use of rabble

1644

RABBLE Defined for English Language Learners

rabble

play

noun

Definition of rabble for English Language Learners

: a large group of loud people who could become violent
the rabble : ordinary or common people who do not have a lot of money, power, or social status