as in masses
people looked down upon as ignorant and of the lowest class
locals complained that rental housing would attract the ragtag and bobtail to their well-groomed suburb
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ragtag and bobtail
Noun
-
But it’s lost a lot of goodwill with the soccer-loving public.—
Boston Herald editorial staff,
Boston Herald,
8 Apr. 2026 -
Trump has benefited from a public worn down by repetition.—
Stephanie A,
The Conversation,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Barak was cognizant of how the Arab populace would perceive Israeli involvement.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
8 Apr. 2026
-
The Iranian regime is deeply unpopular with its populace.—
Arash Azizi,
The Atlantic,
4 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
All that loot pumped out of the Armenian proletariat, says the gaur, and for what.—
Sean Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Severin, on the other hand, represents the revolutionary proletariat.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
16 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
How dare the lowly rabble at Fenway Park treat our esteemed mayor and governor with such disrespect!—
Joe Battenfeld,
Boston Herald,
7 Apr. 2026
-
There’s a rabble-rousing politician with grievances galore.—
Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez,
Charlotte Observer,
3 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
What to do with the seeds The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture advises people who receive the seeds to double-bag them and put them in a trash bin that goes to a landfill or incinerator.—
Michael Guise,
CBS News,
10 Apr. 2026
-
Visit the product recall page on the company's website to register for the recall and follow the instructions on how to request replacement parts, which include uploading a photo showing the original attachment accessories in the trash.—
Michele Laufik,
Martha Stewart,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The soldiers had little time to prepare; the retreat turned into a rout.—
Louis Menand,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
-
From the outset, this was never championship or bust, but rather more a year to cleanse the stench of last season’s playoff-opening rout at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the most lopsided series loss in NBA postseason history.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
11 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
When his team returned to the deep-sea site, however, its brilliant colors were smothered under a blanket of fluffy gray scum.—
Jeffrey Marlow,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Our editors tested over a dozen shower cleaners to find the ones that are most effective at removing soap scum and water stains.—
Josh Feldman,
NBC news,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Which is to say, the people in the streets weren’t riffraff running amok but activists with aims.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
New Yorker,
18 Aug. 2025
-
Sometimes Evie imagined the land, the world, the city around her as a cartoon neighborhood, the houses’ edges elastic like balloons, their walls filling up and bloating and then, all at once, popping: ejecting out the riffraff and trash in a huff.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Aug. 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Ragtag and bobtail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ragtag%20and%20bobtail. Accessed 14 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
