ragtag
/ˈraɡtaɡ
/adjective [attributive]
Untidy, disorganized, or incongruously varied in character: a ragtag group of idealists...
- A small, ragtag band of idealists facing overwhelming odds decides to gamble on a course of action judged either foolish or brilliant, depending on the outcome.
- He is widely believed to have fueled the war in support of one of the fighting parties, to which he committed ragtag militias that perpetrated unspeakable atrocities.
- And there's a marvelous, almost throwaway moment where Shaun and his ragtag band of survivors meet up with another group who look, mysteriously, a great deal like Shaun's group.
noun (also ragtag and bobtail) [in singular]
A disreputable or disorganized group of people: the ragtag had been organized into some kind of marching order...
- This was the case when the US, the UK, and a ragtag of minor allies invaded the country in March.
- In more prosaic moments she comments on a ragtag of fellow travellers, landlords and farmers, and lorry drivers who don't know the country code of how to pass horses on the road.
- The people I have known have been a scruffy lot, a ragtag of mongrels from all over the place, but I would not change them for the world.
Origin
Early 19th century: superseding earlier tag-rag and tag and rag (see rag1, tag1).