Meanings
- Synonym of riffraffish.
He was frettin' and fiddlin' over a new story 'bout that riff-raffy Huckleberry Finn.
1987, Bernard Sabath, You Caught Me Dancing, page 182 more examples
"Not Tunny and I," retorted the lady; "they are noisy, riffraffy, and smell of cowheel and codfish, - uncomfortable to polite minds, disrelishable to respectable society, and dangerous to genteel young ladies.
1850, Sylvester Judd, Richard Edney and the Governor's Family, A Rusurban Tale, page 145Brunswick, always thinking ahead, kept improving the tone of bowling alleys, extending credit to potential bowling-alley proprietors, hiring architects and decorators to make sure the places wouldn't look riff-raffy.
1962, Elwyn Brooks White (contributor), “The Talk Of The Town”, in The New Yorker, volume 38, page 29Synonyms: riffraffish
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveSynonym of riffraffish.
Origin
From riffraff + -y. First use appears c. 1850. See cite below.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
riff-raffy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riff-raffy
“riff-raffy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riff-raffy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “riff-raffy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riff-raffy.
Source: riff-raffy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.