ruffian

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The ruffian hostility succeeded in turning away the would-be new enrollees.

From Washington Post

With its cast of ruffians, its American sins, its contemplation of quantum physics, its low life and high ideas, “The Passenger” is almost a perfect book.

From Los Angeles Times

"Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived."

From Salon

She marries a lawyer she doesn’t love, a man who diverges in every way from her “usual muesli mix of art-damaged ruffians.”

From New York Times

We don’t think of the thousand other bootblacks who will not meet their benefactors, boys whom the text dismisses as ruffians or ne’er-do-wells or simply never acknowledges at all.

From New York Times