rabble

1 of 2

noun

rab·​ble ˈra-bəl 

plural rabbles

1

a

: a disorganized or disorderly crowd of people : mob

Maybe the film's best stretch comes when the boys … race through the streets while singing "Born to Run," and inspire a rabble of unemployed factory men to join along.

—David Ehrlich

Nobody wants political parties that behave like unruly rabbles.

—Chris Bryant

b

: a group, class, or body regarded with contempt

… the whole of that vile rabble came sweeping off the hilltop and down the slope right past their hiding-place.

—C. S. Lewis

c

: ordinary or common people lacking wealth, power, or social status

—usually used with the

In the vaudeville theaters the "refined" could, if they chose, sit safe from the rabble [=the masses] in the more expensive box and orchestra seats.

—David Nasaw

Plagued by overflowing prisons and an irrepressible wave of crime, George III hit upon a cruel solution: ship the rabble off to the far ends of the earth …

—James Atlas

In Elizabethan England, there were sumptuary laws to prevent members of the rabble from dressing above their station.

—Rob Walker

2

: a disorganized or confused collection of things

The size of the Academy's official dictionary … showed its determination to eradicate the rabble of synonyms, onomatopoeias and vulgarities.

—Graham Robb

The punch was as hard as any Ali ever took. When he rose, his thoughts were a rabble and his legs looked ready to do a Groucho Marx impersonation.

—Hugh McIlvanney

rabble

2 of 2

verb

rabbled; rabbling ˈra-b(ə-)liŋ 

transitive verb

: to insult or assault by or as a mob

Did you know?

Rabble has been with the English language since its appearance in Middle English (as rabel) around the turn of the 15th century. The Middle English rabel (originally used to denote a pack or swarm of animals or insects) may have come from the verb rabel which meant "to babble" (despite the similarity in sound and meaning, however, babble and rabble are linguistically unrelated). The verb rabel is related to Middle Dutch rabbelen and Low German rabbeln, meaning "to speak rapidly or indistinctly" or "to chatter." So how do we get from babbling to crowds of people? The connecting link may be the idea of confusion. Rabble, in its earliest uses, could indicate a pack of animals, a swarm of insects, or a confused collection of things, in addition to a confused or meaningless string of words.

Synonyms

Noun

• proletariat
• rabblement
• ragtag and bobtail
• riffraff
• rout
• scum
• tag, rag, and bobtail
• tagrag and bobtail
• trash
• unwashed

Examples of rabble in a Sentence

Noun

the crown prince was reminded that even the rabble of the realm deserved his attention and compassion

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Advertisement From start to finish, pure madness, amid a rabble that never calmed, never quieted, never quit. —Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2024

All this anti-Soviet scum, all this rabble revolves around Sakharov. —Gal Beckerman, Foreign Affairs, 10 May 2012

Verb

But at one point the two men rabbled about their athletic prowess, and even fought over who had a better golf handicap. —Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 28 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English rabel pack of animals

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1644, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing rabble

• rabble-rouser
• the rabble

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Kids Definition

rabble

noun

rab·​ble

ˈrab-əl

1

: a crowd that is noisy and hard to control : mob

2

: a group of people looked down upon as ignorant and hard to control