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Irregular vs Ragged - What's the difference?

irregular | ragged |

As adjectives the difference between irregular and ragged

is that irregular is nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations while ragged is rent or worn into tatters, or till the texture is broken.

As a noun irregular

is a soldier who is not a member of an official military force and, often, does not follow regular army tactics.

As a verb ragged is

past tense of rag.

irregular

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year = 1967 , first = Barbara , last = Sleigh , authorlink = Barbara Sleigh , title = (Jessamy) , edition = 1993 , location = Sevenoaks, Kent , publisher=Bloomsbury , isbn = 0 340 19547 9 , page = 33 , url = , passage = ‘ “It would be most irregular' Grandpa!” says Miss Cecily frowning and tapping her foot. “Well, we’re a pretty ' irregular family so that’s neither here nor there,” says the old man, impish like. [...] ’ }}
  • Of a surface, rough.
  • Without symmetry, regularity, or uniformity.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)
  • , title= The Three Corpse Trick, chapter=5 , passage=The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-01-01, author=Paul Bartel, Ashli Moore
  • , volume=101, issue=1, page=47–48, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Avian Migration: The Ultimate Red-Eye Flight , passage=Many of these classic methods are still used, with some modern improvements. For example, with the aid of special microphones and automated sound detection software, ornithologists recently reported […] that pine siskins (Spinus pinus ) undergo an irregular , nomadic type of nocturnal migration.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author= Ian Sample
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=34, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains , passage=Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.}}
  • Not regular; having sides that are not equal or angles that are not equal.
  • Whose faces are not all regular polygons (or are not equally inclined to each other).
  • Antonyms

    * regular

    Derived terms

    * irregular plural * irregular verb

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A soldier who is not a member of an official military force and, often, does not follow regular army tactics.
  • ragged

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Verb

    (head)
  • (rag)
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Rent or worn into tatters, or till the texture is broken.
  • a ragged coat
    a ragged sail
  • Broken with rough edges; having jags; uneven; rough; jagged.
  • ragged rocks
  • Hence, harsh and disagreeable to the ear; dissonant.
  • * (rfdate) .
  • A ragged noise of mirth.
  • Wearing tattered clothes.
  • a ragged fellow
  • Rough; shaggy; rugged.
  • * (rfdate), .
  • What shepherd owns those ragged sheep?
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=May 19 , author=Paul fletcher , title=Blackpool 1-2 West Ham , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Allardyce's side had led at the break through a Carlton Cole strike but after Thomas Ince - son of former Hammers midfielder Paul - levelled shortly after the restart, the match became increasingly stretched and ragged .}}

    Derived terms

    * ragged lady * raggedly * raggedness * ragged robin * ragged sailor * ragged school

    Anagrams

    * English heteronyms