How to Use ruffian in a Sentence

ruffian

noun

• In the chaos, the young ruffians pilfered freely and made away with a small fortune.
  — Sylvia Poggioli, The New York Review of Books, 29 Mar. 2020
• Stalin’s ruffians wanted to live in a world where elephants would not appear out of the blue.
  — Emily Perper, Longreads, 30 May 2017
• After it is stolen by two ruffians, a distraught Shakespeare scholar turns to Holmes for help.
  — Michael Dirda, Washington Post, 13 July 2023
• My dad and uncle were abalone divers ... considered ruffians by the locals.
  — Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2019
• Yes, in the now richly classic cowboy movie The Western Code, which was released in 1932, an ex-lawman hero rides into town and confronts the local ruffian.
  — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 19 May 2022
• Policemen bash down doors and clip handcuffs on ruffians.
  — The Economist, 18 Jan. 2020
• Henry V – or Harry, as he’s often called in the play – is a party boy in the earlier plays, an entitled child who hangs out with a band of ruffians led by Falstaff.
  — Tirdad Derakhshani, Philly.com, 18 July 2017
• Tensions between the natives and the conquerors were lessened when the Bear Flag ruffians were supplanted by regular U.S. troops.
  — Gary Kamiya, SFChronicle.com, 10 Jan. 2020
• His train of thought reminds the reader that Cromwell is also his own author, having fashioned a high minister out of the unlikely material of a ruffian from the streets.
  — Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 5 Apr. 2020
• But even iconic ruffians such as the Wrangler need to worry about fuel economy these days, hence the focus on weight reduction, faster windshield angle, etc.
  — Daniel Pund, Car and Driver, 13 Dec. 2017
• Chaplin was sharing a table with Russian aristocrats and violinist Jascha Heifetz and saw Julian and his buddies kick over a lamp and generally behave like ruffians.
  — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2023
• When Lily welcomes a drug dealer, the ruffian savors every luxurious detail.
  — Amy Nicholson, Town & Country, 26 Feb. 2018
• The early episodes are dominated by solid character actors in scruffy facial hair proficiently playing cops and local ruffians.
  — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Jan. 2018
• Whether marauding nomadic tribes or local ruffians provoked Zimri-Lim’s nightmare may finally become clear.
  — Andrew Lawler, Science | AAAS, 19 Dec. 2017
• It's become a moviegoing ritual of sorts, a touchstone of cinematic reliability in a world often seeming to be reeling into chaos, to see a vengeful Neeson dispensing rough justice to a baker's assortment of hoods, ruffians and, in one case, wolves.
  — Cary Darling, Houston Chronicle, 11 Jan. 2018
• When the man was found, he was confronted by one sweatshirt-wearing ruffian who apparently disagreed with either the white supremacist’s political positions or his swastika armband.
  — Michael Harriot, The Root, 18 Sep. 2017

Last Updated: 7 Oct 2024