raffishly

8.9

In a way that looks stylish but a little wild and careless

adverb
/ˈræfɪʃli/

: con un aire despreocupado

The artist smiled raffishly, charming everyone with his unconventional style.

Examples

He smiled raffishly as he entered the room.
She wore her hat raffishly tilted to one side.
He dressed raffishly for the party, ignoring all the formal dress codes.
She tipped her hat raffishly to one side before entering the room.
He wore his jacket raffishly, giving off an air of charm despite its untidy look.
She smiled raffishly, capturing everyone's attention with her carefree attitude.
The artist painted raffishly, using bold colors and playful strokes that defied convention.

Synonyms

carelessly

vsraffishly

1 5.5

In a relaxed, confident way that looks stylish

adds attractive charm and slight disrepute rather than plain rule-breaking

rakishly

vsraffishly

1 8.2

Looking confident and slightly playful in a stylish way

is more disreputable yet attractively relaxed in tone

Antonyms

conventionally

14 3.9

In the usual way most people do things

How Raffish

scandalously

Literature

2 6.1

raffishly

8.9

rakishly

1 8.2

roguishly

1 7.3

unconventionally

1 7.2

breezily

1 4.9

respectably

2 3.3

Surface Forms

raffishly positive

Morphology

raffishly = raffish (transparent) = raffish + ly

Standard adverbial formation from the adjective 'raffish' using the productive suffix '-ly', so the manner meaning is directly derived.

Etymology

Raffishly comes from the old slang raff meaning 'rascal' or 'rough people' plus the ending -ish, so it gives the picture of someone a little wild or bad but stylish. So, to act raffishly is to behave in a slightly not-respectable but charming way, like a confident rogue.