as in hobo
somewhat old-fashioned
a child who is dressed in rags and is usually dirty and poor
a group of barefoot ragamuffins playing in the street
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Recent Examples of ragamuffin
Soon enough, Curtis’s all-black border collie, Steve, and a ragamuffin of a dog, Jack, would emerge from the trees to beg for sandwich scraps.
—
Carrie Dennis, Travel + Leisure, 14 June 2025
Playing out on a New Orleans street set designed more or less as a cartoon by David Rockwell, its pirates costumed by Linda Cho in ragamuffin seafaring garb that nonetheless allows for the odd pleasing splash of color, Pirates!
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 24 Apr. 2025
The former royal highness will be too busy leading the Resistance, alongside Jonathan and his ragamuffin group of bandits, to fight off all of the Queen’s men.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar. 2025
And the best way to clear a driveway piled with snow is to hire some neighborhood ragamuffins with snow shovels, pay them some cash, and give them a belt of hot chocolate.
—Steven Levy, WIRED, 5 Apr. 2024
The young ragamuffin helped turn corrido tumbado into a global chart-topper (and moneymaker) and proved that Latin American artists don’t have to compromise to reach that level of acclaim.
—Pitchfork, 13 Dec. 2023
The Moser family — Lubo, his wife and three cheerfully ragamuffin little kids — are a troupe of travelling performers who earn their keep putting on shows in the local towns.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 7 Sep. 2023
The reunion between ragamuffin Georgie and boyish Jason also recalls Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon from 50 years ago, a movie set during the Great Depression, an exercise in nostalgia.
—Armond White, National Review, 30 Aug. 2023
Then there is the rest of the ragamuffin roster that was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12, a conference so prestigious that its most noteworthy programs — Oklahoma and Texas — can’t wait to leave.
—Billy Witz Sasha Portis, New York Times, 31 Dec. 2022
Carrie Dennis, Travel + Leisure, 14 June 2025
Playing out on a New Orleans street set designed more or less as a cartoon by David Rockwell, its pirates costumed by Linda Cho in ragamuffin seafaring garb that nonetheless allows for the odd pleasing splash of color, Pirates!
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 24 Apr. 2025
The former royal highness will be too busy leading the Resistance, alongside Jonathan and his ragamuffin group of bandits, to fight off all of the Queen’s men.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar. 2025
And the best way to clear a driveway piled with snow is to hire some neighborhood ragamuffins with snow shovels, pay them some cash, and give them a belt of hot chocolate.
—Steven Levy, WIRED, 5 Apr. 2024
The young ragamuffin helped turn corrido tumbado into a global chart-topper (and moneymaker) and proved that Latin American artists don’t have to compromise to reach that level of acclaim.
—Pitchfork, 13 Dec. 2023
The Moser family — Lubo, his wife and three cheerfully ragamuffin little kids — are a troupe of travelling performers who earn their keep putting on shows in the local towns.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 7 Sep. 2023
The reunion between ragamuffin Georgie and boyish Jason also recalls Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon from 50 years ago, a movie set during the Great Depression, an exercise in nostalgia.
—Armond White, National Review, 30 Aug. 2023
Then there is the rest of the ragamuffin roster that was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12, a conference so prestigious that its most noteworthy programs — Oklahoma and Texas — can’t wait to leave.
—Billy Witz Sasha Portis, New York Times, 31 Dec. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ragamuffin
Noun
-
The former, in which Burnett and Hamilton did a song-and-dance routine as Dust Bowl-era hobos, marked the first of several times that the two performed together.—
Rachel Syme,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
-
Rich earth tones lean into the season’s palette, while hobo shapes and mini shoulder bags feel especially of-the-moment.—
Rosie Marder,
Travel + Leisure,
23 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
In Havana, beggars are ubiquitous.—
Jon Lee Anderson,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
-
Brando, the owner of an atoll in Tahiti, where his family dwelled, had become the beggar of Hollywood, who had to feed on crumbs.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Help, of course, isn’t coming—not over the Indian Ocean, not in the nursing home, not on the tramps’ moonlit road.—
Helen Shaw,
New Yorker,
2 Oct. 2025
-
Once per act, a second duo crashes in on Didi and Gogo, providing the tramps’ power balance with a lurid, distended foil.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
29 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Cleverbot veers from sounding like a winsome waif to coming across as a drunk, smart-alecky fifteen-year-old who talks in non sequiturs.—
Patricia Marx,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
-
His socialite wife, Margo (Malin Akerman), quickly takes Sophie under her wing, introducing the wide-eyed waif to her gaggle of girlfriends, including Jill (Katie Lowes), the wife of the megachurch’s reverend, and Callie (Jaime Ray Newman), the sheriff’s wife.—
Melissa Locker,
Time,
23 July 2025
Noun
-
Without its keystone predators, the balance of the coastal ecosystem can shift to damage control: urchins strip kelp forests, waves hit harder, and the quiet rhythm of life shifts.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
5 Sep. 2025
-
The lobster potentially lives on the urchin as a mimicry behavior, when one organism mimics the physical appearance of another for protection or other benefits.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
6 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ragamuffin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ragamuffin. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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