rag

1. 1.

   a small piece of cloth or paper

   Synonymsshredtagtag endtatter

   Broaderpiece of cloth

   Narrowerpine-tar rag
2. 2.

   a week at British universities during which side-shows and processions of floats are organized to raise money for charities

   Synonymsrag week

   Broaderweek

   Partsrag day

   United Kingdom

3. 3.

   music with a syncopated melody (usually for the piano)

   Synonymsragtime

   Broaderdance music
4. 4.

   newspaper with half-size pages

   Synonymstabloidsheet

   Broadernewspaper
5. 5.

   a boisterous practical joke (especially by college students)

   Broaderpractical joke

   United Kingdom

Other forms of rag

plural

rags·

past tense or participle

ragged

present participle

ragging

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about rag

What does rag mean?

rag means "treat cruelly". That is the primary sense; the word has 11 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in rag?

rag has 1 syllable: rag. In IPA it is /ˈɹæɡ/.

What is another word for rag?

Close synonyms include torment, bedevil, crucify, dun, frustrate. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is rag a common word?

rag is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.