Ruffianly (Adjective)
Meaning
Violent and lawless; "the more ruffianly element"; "tough street gangs".
Classification
All adjective clusters.
Examples
- The local residents avoided walking through the area after dark, due to the presence of a ruffianly gang that hung out on the street corners.
- Police in riot gear clashed with the ruffianly mob of protesters who had taken to the streets, burning cars and looting businesses.
- Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks had taught Jake how to hold his own against the ruffianly bullies that seemed to run the neighborhood.
- Many a social commentator pointed to the glorification of ruffianly lifestyles in certain popular songs as contributing to a coarsening of culture.
- Banding together to deal with a string of recent robberies, shop owners began offering security jobs to burly young men, drawn largely from the local sports clubs rather than ruffianly crews that drifted from door to door on public benefit days