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
  • He was also occasionally harassed on the property; some local ruffians tried to break down its door, and others once beat him and left him for dead.
    — Daniel Foster, National Review, 30 Nov. 2023
  • In fact, the GTW ruffians have to give the Big Honey some props for his relative restraint in the heat of the moment.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 28 Feb. 2026
  • When Lily welcomes a drug dealer, the ruffian savors every luxurious detail.
    — Amy Nicholson, Town & Country, 26 Feb. 2018
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Ciri, unbeknowest to her surrogate ma and pa, is free of her Nilfgaardian captors and on the run with a band of adolescent ruffians, and perhaps figuring out how to take care of herself.
    — Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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 both young people meet their end the Baron saves Christina by putting Hans’ brain in Christina’s body, uniting their blurred identities in a joint thirst for revenge, creating a Gothic avenger who hunts down the aristocratic ruffians who ruined their happiness.
    — Rory Doherty, Vulture, 20 Oct. 2025
  • The series has lent a cinematic gangster attraction to the Peaky Blinders, yet the term itself was not one gang — as depicted in the show — but a generic expression from the late 19th century for the ‘street ruffians’ of Birmingham, born out of the city’s ring of poverty.
    — Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ruffian.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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