ragamuffin
Scruffy street child
A ragamuffin is a person, especially a child, in ragged, dirty clothes—suggesting poverty or neglect.
The word carries affection as often as pity: The neighborhood ragamuffins played in the vacant lot.
It can describe anyone disheveled or scruffily dressed: She showed up looking like a ragamuffin after her camping trip.
Abandoned, neglected child
- gaminHomeless street child
- guttersnipeNeglected street youth
- scampMischievous young person
- orphanChild whose parents died
foundling · stray · pickpocket · runaway · newsboy · shoeshine · chimney-sweep · mudlark
Ripped and worn out
- unkemptUntidy in appearance
- scruffyMessily neglected in appearance
- shabbyWorn and neglected
- bedraggledWet, dirty, untidy
rumpled · frayed · threadbare · patched · torn · dirty · grimy · matted
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
- wantTo desire something
- hardshipSuffering from difficult circumstances
- privationLack of necessities
- impoverishmentState of extreme deprivation
penury · neediness · indigence · squalor · deprivation · beggary · hand-to-mouth · rags
Aggressively spirited despite odds
- resourcefulSkilled at solving problems
- survivorOne still alive after
- pluckyCourageous despite disadvantage
- tenaciousStubbornly determined to continue
hardy · adaptable · streetwise · cunning · self-reliant · underdog · spirited · determined
Of 19th-century Britain
- bygoneOf earlier times
- old-fashionedBelonging to earlier times
- quaintAttractively unfamiliar, outdated
- vintageQuality from past eras
period · literary · sentimental · romantic · picturesque · storybook · timeless · archaic
waif
Abandoned, neglected child
- gaminHomeless street child
- guttersnipeNeglected street youth
- scampMischievous young person
orphan · foundling · stray · pickpocket · runaway · newsboy · shoeshine · chimney-sweep · mudlark · matchgirl
tattered
Ripped and worn out
bedraggled · rumpled · frayed · threadbare · patched · torn · dirty · grimy · matted · tangled
destitution
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
impoverishment · penury · neediness · indigence · squalor · deprivation · beggary · hand-to-mouth · rags · hunger
scrappy
Aggressively spirited despite odds
- resourcefulSkilled at solving problems
- survivorOne still alive after
- pluckyCourageous despite disadvantage
tenacious · hardy · adaptable · streetwise · cunning · self-reliant · underdog · spirited · determined · tough
victorian
Of 19th-century Britain
- bygoneOf earlier times
- old-fashionedBelonging to earlier times
- quaintAttractively unfamiliar, outdated
vintage · period · literary · sentimental · romantic · picturesque · storybook · timeless · archaic · classic
- Jamaican Musicreggae, dub, dancehall, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh
- street childrenurchin, waif, gamin, guttersnipe, stray
- boysboy, lad, laddie, young boy, little boy
- outcastsoutcast, pariah, pariahs, outcasts, outlaws
- Rascalsrascal, imp, scamp, scallywag, scalawag
- Whimsy Wordsgobbledygook, gibberish, mumbo jumbo, hogwash, balderdash
ragamuffinneatnik
Obsessively orderly person
immaculate · pristine · polished · preppy · well-turned-out
ragamuffinaristocrat
Person of noble birth
heir · heiress · blue blood · young gentleman · young lady