as in crass
lacking in refinement or good taste
the dowager cringed at the thought of raffish tourists in rough boots tromping all over her Persian rugs
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Recent Examples of raffish
The sun was setting, leaving a band of neon orange clinging to the horizon; around us, raffish cliques sipped esoteric cocktails, shared platters of roast chicken, flitted between languages, and seemed, to my eyes, immune to worldly stress.
—
David Amsden, Travel + Leisure, 14 May 2024
The present headquarters of the Andy Warhol Factory are, despite the raffish image, surprisingly elegant and ordered: typewriters click, business machines whir, telephones ring and are answered by trim and efficient secretaries.
—Stephen Birmingham, Town & Country, 10 Aug. 2023
Indeed, weren’t these childish fantasies of escape, these raffish homages to crime flicks, already passé when the film was made five decades ago?
—Hazlitt, 2 Dec. 2022
Although Clodagh ignores the warnings of the General’s raffish agent Mr. Dean (Alessandro Nivola), isolation and illness soon take their toll, with the haunting atmosphere of the palace particularly affecting volatile Sister Ruth (Aisling Franciosi).
—Clark Collis, EW.com, 21 Sep. 2020
See All Example Sentences for raffish
David Amsden, Travel + Leisure, 14 May 2024
The present headquarters of the Andy Warhol Factory are, despite the raffish image, surprisingly elegant and ordered: typewriters click, business machines whir, telephones ring and are answered by trim and efficient secretaries.
—Stephen Birmingham, Town & Country, 10 Aug. 2023
Indeed, weren’t these childish fantasies of escape, these raffish homages to crime flicks, already passé when the film was made five decades ago?
—Hazlitt, 2 Dec. 2022
Although Clodagh ignores the warnings of the General’s raffish agent Mr. Dean (Alessandro Nivola), isolation and illness soon take their toll, with the haunting atmosphere of the palace particularly affecting volatile Sister Ruth (Aisling Franciosi).
—Clark Collis, EW.com, 21 Sep. 2020
See All Example Sentences for raffish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for raffish
Adjective
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In a not crass way, no matter what your vice of choice is, someone who enables that behavior, even just by being there, is a really relatable idea.—
Nicole Fell,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Feb. 2026
-
The vigil can come to look like voyeurism, the human care made crass.—
Megan Garber,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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On Heavenly’s last record, released in 1996, their daydreamy idealism had become more vulgar and concrete, and the instrumental backing had adopted a Britpop punchiness to match; however, the album was released just after drummer Mathew Fletcher’s death, leading to Heavenly’s abrupt dissolution.—
Jude Noel,
Pitchfork,
4 Mar. 2026
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In 2024, another former WISN-AM radio host, Jay Weber, was suspended for two weeks after posting vulgar comments about Walz's then-17-year-old neurodivergent son, Gus.—
Drake Bentley,
jsonline.com,
3 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Perhaps surprisingly, the unfair pay and rude management didn’t trigger the most significant changes in attitude.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
7 Mar. 2026
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Whether a dish is tied to a long-standing family tradition, cultural heritage, or simply a treasured memory, etiquette experts say there’s nothing rude about choosing to keep certain recipes private.—
Alexandra Emanuelli,
Southern Living,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Nestle the oyster into crushed ice or coarse salt to keep it level.—
Rai Mincey,
Southern Living,
10 Mar. 2026
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That was a bit of a turnoff for this old traditionalist, who thinks politics has gotten too coarse and foul-mouthed.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The competing hypotheses, which seek to identify common traits between Little Foot and any of these species, highlight why the fossil continues to be such a rich resource of information that could contain clues to human evolution.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
7 Mar. 2026
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But there are plenty of other entities in space, with the most common ones being galaxies, protogalaxies, dark molecular clouds of gas, and the ionized warm-hot intergalactic medium.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
6 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Raffish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/raffish. Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.
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