Phrase guide

motley crew

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌmɒtli ˈkɹuː/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌmɑtli ˈkɹu/
  • rhymes with -uː

1

noun

Meaning 1

A group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From motley + crew. Originally used to refer to the crews of 17th- and 18th-century ships, which contained men of many different nationalities.

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: nesourodá skupina — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal
  • Czech: každý pes jiná ves — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal
  • Finnish: sekalainen sakki — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal
  • Italian: canagliume — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal
  • Macedonian: ша́рена дру́жина (šárena drúžina) — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal
  • Macedonian: меша́вина (mešávina) — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal
  • Polish: zbieranina — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal
  • Russian: сбо́рная соля́нка (sbórnaja soljánka) — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal
  • Serbo-Croatian: šarena družba — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal
  • Welsh: criw brith — group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal