rug rat

noun

Definition of rug ratnext
slang
as in preschooler

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

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 rug rat In a bid to increase his nation’s number of rug rats, Władysław Grochowski, owner of one of Poland’s biggest hotel chains, has pledged to throw a party for every couple who conceives while staying at his properties. — Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 4 Oct. 2025 Your standard maternal protagonist is not dropping a trail of pacifiers behind her, swilling goblets of red wine the minute her rug rats are in bed, and secretly vaping in the linen closet? — Chloe Schama, Vogue, 14 May 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rug rat
  1. preschooler
  2. minor
  3. adolescent
  4. kindergartner
  5. schoolboy
  6. schoolchild
  7. infant
  8. newborn
Noun
  • The concern that gentle parenting might spoil kids isn’t new—especially in online parenting discourse where videos of parents calmly narrating a tantrum or negotiating with a preschooler tend to go viral.
    — Alex Vance, Parents, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Those foundations can begin with something as simple as learning to put on a jacket, a common milestone for a preschooler.
    — Emily Woodruff, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of preschooler
Noun
  • Mountbatten-Windsor’s reputation has been tarnished by his relationship with Epstein ever since 2008, when the wealthy American financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
    — Danica Kirka, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2026
  • Those can be warning signs that someone has misused a minor's identity.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of minor
Noun
  • Ariel Gutiérrez’s intimate coming-of-age drama examines how sudden loss can force an adolescent to confront fear, responsibility and the possibility of rebuilding a life after trauma.
    — Anna Marie de la Fuente, Variety, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Getty An island that had spent decades pairing glamour with license was perhaps the wrong place to entrust an adolescent to unusually permissive relatives.
    — Paul Jebara, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of adolescent
Noun
  • Noah, a kindergartener at the time, also had to ride the bus with high school students, until an advocate intervened on the family’s behalf.
    — Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Palladino was a kindergartner in Brooklyn when classmates suddenly began being called over the school PA system to go home.
    — Jasmine Baehr, FOXNews.com, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of kindergartner
Noun
  • And why is Owen Wilson grinning like an awkward schoolboy at Zeus’s naked daughters?
    — Andrea Sachs, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2026
  • One picture shows a schoolboy Rogers at the Hawks’ annual presentation evening, wearing a tie in their red and blue colours.
    — Daniel Taylor, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of schoolboy
Noun
  • In due course, with Watson’s aid, Bell invented the telephone, or so many a schoolchild could tell you.
    — Cal Revely-Calder, New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2026
  • Learning to read and write cursive was once a rite of passage for practically every American schoolchild.
    — Washington Post, Washington Post, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of schoolchild
Noun
  • Covid-19 vaccination continues to be associated with a reduced risk of hospitalization, including among people at high risk of severe disease, such as older adults and infants.
    — Jacqueline Howard, CNN Money, 4 Nov. 2026
  • Union’s clinics also are offering vaccinations for infants earlier than normally scheduled, as health experts advise in areas experiencing measles outbreaks.
    — Peter Smith, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of infant
Noun
  • Kristin and Fletch also had a newborn to care for while trying to keep the project moving.
    — Tereza Shkurtaj, PEOPLE, 31 Oct. 2026
  • In August, a fire triggered by an exploding air conditioner killed 14 newborns in a nursery at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of newborn

Browse Nearby Words

ruggedness
rug rat
rug rats
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Rug rat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rug%20rat. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gauntlet

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All