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
-
Van Der Beek was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2023 and made his diagnosis public the following year.—
Michaela Zee,
Variety,
11 Feb. 2026 -
But that came potentially at the expense of appealing to an American public that really does want answers.—
CNN.com Wire Service,
Mercury News,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In Ukraine, besides sleet and snow, the daily forecast includes drones and missiles raining down on the war-weary populace.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
7 Feb. 2026
-
Neither of the first two games was overly competitive, although the local populace had no problem with the result of the first one.—
Jerry McDonald,
Mercury News,
6 Feb. 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
-
Tanner spoke in a blend of political rabble-rousing and entrepreneurial uplift.—
Rachel Monroe,
New Yorker,
21 Jan. 2026
-
There’s something quite magical, really, about millions of bits of colorful paper flying like snow through the air over a raucous rabble.—
Lisa Gutierrez,
Kansas City Star,
31 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Fox News Digital took photos of the nearby camps — which contain piles of junk, such as clothes, open containers, boxes, bags and trash.—
Michael Ruiz , Adriana James-Rodil,
FOXNews.com,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Get rid of trash now, Alaniz urged, to reduce the amount that needs to be moved later.—
Doug Ross,
Chicago Tribune,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The Heat’s lead grew to as large as 32 points in the second half on the way to the 31-point rout.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
8 Feb. 2026
-
Even with All-American sophomore Sarah Strong sidelined, the UConn women’s basketball team continued its dominant run through Big East play with an 80-48 rout of Butler at PeoplesBank Arena on Saturday.—
Emily Adams,
Hartford Courant,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Soap Dishes and Shower Caddies Soap dishes and shower caddies are particularly vulnerable to stubborn soap scum.—
Louise Parks,
Martha Stewart,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Small-scale tiles are hard to clean given the number of grout lines that trap scum.—
Maria Sabella,
The Spruce,
4 Feb. 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 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
