In typography, lines of type that are not justified, which do not align at the right margin. (Also called ragged right.) The quad, or optimum, word space values should be used. Justified and unjustified texts usually result in the same number of lines.
There is continuing argument about how ragged ragged should be and whether hyphenation should be allowed. There are no rules; it is up to the designer's discretion. "Soft" ragged refers to subtle differences in the length of adjacent lines, while "hard" ragged refers to severe differences. "Soft" ragged usually allows hyphenation.
Although ragged right is more common, in some applications, lines can be aligned along the right margin, but be ragged along the left (called ragged left).
'Ragged is also informally referred to as rag.