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Breaking Down Ragtag
Tag and rag was a relatively common expression in the 16th and 17th centuries, and it was often used pejoratively to refer to members of the lower classes of society. By the 18th century, the phrase had been expanded to ragtag and bobtail. That expression could mean either "the lower classes" or "the entire lot of something" (as opposed to just the more desirable parts—the entire unit of an army, for example, not just its more capable soldiers). Something described as ragtag and bobtail, then, was usually common and unspectacular. Ragtag and bobtail was eventually shortened to ragtag, the adjective we know today, which can describe an odd mixture that is often hastily assembled or second-rate.
Examples of ragtag in a Sentence
Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 22 Sep. 2025
Things start to heat up at an accelerated clip for our ragtag group of Brooklyn movers and shakers, and the stage is set for a harsh and swift karmic justice.
—Andy Andersen, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2025
Yet her book, first published as Sursis pour l’Orchestre, translated as The Musicians of Auschwitz, was a novelized and sensational account which appalled almost all the other members of the ragtag band.
—Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2025
To counteract Hitler's fleet of German U-boats, Winston Churchill's special operations executive, Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill), assembles a ragtag team of rogues and rebels — relying on bizarre tactics to use against the Nazis.
—James Mercadante, People.com, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ragtag
Cite this Entry
“Ragtag.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ragtag. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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ragtag
adjective
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