raffish

adjective

ˈra-fish How to pronounce raffish (audio)
Definition of raffishnext
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of raffish Three or four decades ago, the newspaperman was appealingly raffish—at once a bum who drank too much and a knight-errant who charged unafraid at social injustice, succored the weak, and crossed lances with the powerful and arrogant. — David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025 A little lowly courier work, yes, but nothing more raffish than that. — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025 The banal village tunes that Mahler altered into sinister mock vulgarities—did these not recall the raffish klezmer bands, the wandering musicians who played at shtetl weddings? — David Denby, The Atlantic, 1 Apr. 2025 There’s an over-the-top and overdressed fish out of water (me), a raffish Englishmen homesick for Great Britain (my husband Aidan, who will be mortified to read any of this), and an ensemble of quirky characters. — Mosha Lundström Halbert, Vogue, 20 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for raffish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for raffish
  1. crass
  2. vulgar
  3. rude
  4. coarse
  5. common
Adjective
  • Murdoch is thick-skinned and accustomed to being underestimated by the condescending Brits, who see him as a crass interloper.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 2 Sep. 2026
  • The vulnerability, the crass graffiti, the (lack of) cleanliness, uncomfortable toilet seats—the list of reasons is lengthy.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of crass
Adjective
  • The woman's attorneys argued that the decision wrongly gives school officials wide latitude to squelch political speech based on their personal ideas of what is vulgar.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026
  • There were fraternity brothers exchanging vulgar messages about the accuseron Snapchat, echoing what Willis says happened after she herself was assaulted in 2014.
    — Joanna Slater, Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of vulgar
Adjective
  • Painfully aware of this, Shawn waited for one of the drunk old men to comment, heckle, make one of those incomprehensible jokes that drew rude laughter from adults.
    — Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
  • By the same token, French-style discretion can be interpreted by American visitors as inattentive and rude.
    — CNN Money, CNN Money, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of rude
Adjective
  • Authorization and enforcement are almost always too coarse for what production actually requires.
    — Alex Salazar, Forbes.com, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Advanced internal valves are specifically engineered to filter out high-frequency vibrations from coarse road surfaces.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of coarse
Adjective
  • Brower and Simone learned that pigeons were a common source of food for people thousands of years ago and used the sun, and probably the earth's magnetic field, for navigation.
    — KYLE MELNICK THE WASHINGTON POST, Arkansas Online, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Thirteen satellites and counting The latest launch also shows how a common spacecraft architecture can support a growing constellation.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of common

Browse Nearby Words

radius
raffish
raffishness
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Cite this Entry

“Raffish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/raffish. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.

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