gruff
low and harsh; hoarse: a gruff voice.
rough, brusque, or surly: a gruff manner.
Origin of gruff
1Other words for gruff
Opposites for gruff
Other words from gruff
- gruff·ish, adjective
- gruff·ly, adverb
- gruff·ness, noun
- un·gruff, adjective
Words Nearby gruff
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use gruff in a sentence
He’s a gruff, bald, sometimes crude, Jewish guy who names and displays his toupees.
New book puts kibosh on sentimentality of WWII films | Kathi Wolfe | August 27, 2022 | Washington BladeOne can understand why Walter is being played in the way he is—he is your average gruff academic, seemingly detached from the real world around him, and lost in his own head and memories.
‘The Visitor’ Makes a Bizarre Song and Dance About ICE Custody | Tim Teeman | November 5, 2021 | The Daily BeastClose, a gruff iconoclast and minimalist who created Photorealist portraits across five decades, died on Thursday in New York at 81.
How a TIME Art Critic Covered Chuck Close Across the Decades | Andrew R. Chow | August 20, 2021 | TimeLindell appears in those ads to hype his pillows with Billy Mays levels of gruff enthusiasm.
Mike Lindell’s ‘fraud’ allegations are even more ridiculous than you might think | Philip Bump | June 4, 2021 | Washington PostTo the hordes who wanted time with Lincoln, the gruff and efficient Nicolay was the “grim enforcer.”
We needed him to be wary, absorbed, and a little bit gruff, and he gamely complied, thereby furthering his own self-made legend.
Michael Musto: Lou Reed Made Me A Believer—In Transvestism, Prostitution, and Lou Reed | Michael Musto | October 28, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBichir manages to be gruff but sensitive, honest yet mysterious, making Ruiz a mix of righteousness and compassion.
Kevin Whately has been playing gruff, sensible detective Robbie Lewis on ‘Morse’ and ‘Lewis’ for 26 years.
Meet ‘Inspector Lewis’: Kevin Whately on ‘Morse,’ John Thaw, and the End of the Series | Jace Lacob | June 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTHe has played the gruff detective from 1987 to 2000 on Morse and from 2006 to the present on Inspector Lewis.
Meet ‘Inspector Lewis’: Kevin Whately on ‘Morse,’ John Thaw, and the End of the Series | Jace Lacob | June 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAs they were passing a place where the bushes grew thickly by the side of the road, they received a gruff command to halt.
The Courier of the Ozarks | Byron A. DunnThe fact was that Benny himself did not know why he liked this stranger who was so gruff at times and so pleasant at others.
The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler WarnerEven the gruff, grumpy, unsociable rhinoceros amiably allowed him to stroke its head with his trunk.
The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands | R.M. BallantyneHe spoke angrily, and no longer in a low tone, but gruff and loud enough to be heard some distance away.
The Rival Campers | Ruel Perley Smith"Salam Aliekoom," said a gruff voice, as a man with Peer Khan entered the tent.
Confessions of a Thug | Philip Meadows Taylor
British Dictionary definitions for gruff
/ (ɡrʌf) /
rough or surly in manner, speech, etc: a gruff reply
(of a voice, bark, etc) low and throaty
Origin of gruff
1Derived forms of gruff
- gruffish, adjective
- gruffly, adverb
- gruffness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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