raffish
/ˈrafɪʃ
/adjective
Unconventional and slightly disreputable, especially in an attractive way: his raffish air...
- Artists and antique dealers have moved in, giving the neighbourhood a raffish bohemian energy.
- At times, according to historical reports, the concert venues had the raffish air of a beer hall.
- Brighton, on the south coast and one hour by train from London, is the most raffish, louche and exciting of British seaside towns.
Synonyms
rakish, jaunty, dapper, dashing, sporty, flashy;
unconventional, bohemian;
devil-may-care, casual, careless;
louche, disreputable, dissolute, dissipated, debauched, decadent
informal flash
Derivatives
raffishly
- These things look great fun to fly - their pilots wave from open cockpits and wiggle their wings raffishly.
- He lies in the bed, smiling raffishly, smoking a cigarette.
- His hair was raffishly long, and a hunting knife hung by his side.
raffishness
- ‘Fantastic body,’ Davo recalled, with an unexpected touch of raffishness.
- Head into the wooded foothills to Badenweiler, a spa town with that mix of classical gentility, raffishness and effusive horticulture that marks the better thermal spots.
- What's largely missing is an attempt to inculcate deeper values, explore the most controversial sides of the business, and capture the essential, troublemaking raffishness of the craft.
Origin
Early 19th century: from riff-raff + -ish1.