rorty
(British, informal) Boisterous, rowdy, saucy, dissipated, or risqué.
Etymology timeline
Born ~1903 · 1 year of recorded useSeen in the wild
I never saw Rawls speak and never met him. But Habermas gave a talk once at UVa at Rorty’s invitation, and I went to hear him. As the kids say, hold my beer.
Question for you about the langue / ecriture thing, though: I don't think Rorty would say that there is such a thing as "langue" aside from the specific utterances that make it up. I.e. the space of language isn't any…
Definitions
(British, informal) Boisterous, rowdy, saucy, dissipated, or risqué.
"Tell us a good story, Rodney — one of your rorty ones." / Mr. Rodney shrivelled. / "I fear," he murmured — "I fear I am scarcely in the — er — rorty vein to-night."
“I never saw Rawls speak and never met him. But Habermas gave a talk once at UVa at Rorty’s invitation, and I went to hear him. As the kids say, hold my beer.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Question for you about the langue / ecriture thing, though: I don't think Rorty would say that there is such a thing as "langue" aside from the specific utterances that make it up. I.e. the space of language isn't anything other than what is said. What do you think?”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
Used in
Have a better definition?
Add your own interpretation of "rorty".
🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
Tags
Other words near "rorty" (R)
Browse all slang words starting with R.
Related terms
People also read
Semantically related
- rumbustious71%
(chiefly, Britain, informal) Boisterous and unruly.
- rooky68%
(UK, slang, obsolete) rascally, rakish, scampish.
- rage67%
An exciting and boisterous party.
- hoity-toity66%
(uncountable, obsolete) Flighty, giddy, or silly behaviour; also, noisy merriment.
- rollicking66%
carefree, merry and boisterous.