Meaning & use
Tatterdemalion
Last updated
A person dressed in ragged, tattered clothing.
See it in a sentence
A tatterdemalion figure wandered the streets, wrapped in clothes that had long since fallen apart.
The novel's hero begins as a tatterdemalion orphan before rising to fortune.
A note on using this word
This colorful seventeenth-century word likely combines "tatter" (a torn shred of cloth) with a fanciful suffix, giving it a whimsical, almost theatrical sound.
Words with a similar meaning
ragamuffinvagabond
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Another way to use it
2. adjective
Ragged or dilapidated in appearance.
The tatterdemalion tent flapped loosely in the wind.
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