rakish
/ˈɹeɪkɪʃ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.01 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Dashingly, carelessly, or sportingly unconventional or stylish; jaunty; characterized by a devil-may-care unconventionality; having a somewhat disreputable quality or appearance.
Example Sentences
- "a hat worn at a rakish angle"
- "I did not catch what was going on at first, and was, therefore, extremely surprised at noticing George hurriedly smooth out his trousers, ruffle up his hair, and stick his cap on in a rakish manner at the back of his head, and then, assuming an expression of mingled affability and sadness, sit down in a graceful attitude, and try to hide his feet."
- "A little later a rakish young workman, with a goatee beard and a swagger, lit his clay pipe at the lamp before descending into the street."
- "[…]Anne, who had dropped into her seat, gasping for breath, with a forgotten lily wreath hanging askew over one ear and giving her a particularly rakish and disheveled appearance."
- "[…] the rakish Dennis Quaid, a Houston native who is moving to Texas in a couple of years and wants it to become "the new Hollywood.""
- "Jarvis Cocker and Russell Brand have both found fame as rakish British iconoclasts."
Etymology
Etymology tree English rake Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -isch English -ish English rakish From rake (“man habituated to immoral conduct”) + -ish.
Usage
Inflected Forms
more rakish (comparative)
most rakish (superlative)