coarse
Americanadjective
-
coarser,
comparative
-
coarsest
superlative
-
composed of relatively large parts or particles.
The beach had rough, coarse sand.
-
lacking in fineness or delicacy of texture, structure, etc..
The stiff, coarse fabric irritated her skin.
-
harsh; grating.
-
lacking delicacy, taste, or refinement; unpolished.
He had coarse manners but an absolutely first-rate mind.
-
of inferior or faulty quality; common; base.
-
vulgar; obscene; crude.
His coarse language angered us.
- Synonyms:
- indelicate
-
(of metals) unrefined.
-
(of a metal file) having the maximum commercial grade of coarseness.
adjective
-
rough in texture, structure, etc; not fine
coarse sand
-
lacking refinement or taste; indelicate; vulgar
coarse jokes
-
of inferior quality; not pure or choice
-
(of a metal) not refined
-
(of a screw) having widely spaced threads
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of coarse
First recorded in 1550–60; earlier cors(e), course, cowarce; of obscure origin
Explanation
Coarse can mean rough to the touch or vulgar. It's good to have coarse sand paper, but not good to have coarse manners. Do you lick your dinner plate, wipe your nose on your sleeve, and generally behave like an oaf? No, of course not. You're the kind of person who reads online dictionaries. But if you did do any of things, you'd be coarse — that is, unrefined, boorish, and downright vulgar. Coarse can apply to a wide variety of things other than behavior. If something is of poor quality, cheap and inferior, it's considered coarse.
Vocabulary lists containing coarse
The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 6
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"Of Mice and Men"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
On the other goes a coarse, olive-bar-inspired romesco made with jarred roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, salted roasted almonds and smoked paprika.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
India's main summer crops include rice, pulses, coarse cereals, oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane and jute.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
WSJ | Buy Side: From high-heat titanium tools for coarse hair to gentle ceramic irons for fine tresses, these are the best hair straighteners we tested.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
During the hottest hours, many retreat to makeshift huts -- frames of sticks draped with coarse homespun cloth, plastered with wild donkey dung.
From Barron's ● May 10, 2026
Her hair felt soft and smooth, not coarse and wavy like mine.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
Unlike Maricopa Highway 33, Hudson Ranch Road features coarser asphalt, no guardrails and more passing zones than turnouts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
The ad itself uses coarser language and has given rise to awkwardness: “That makes the LGBTQ+ community think, ‘Oh, Spencer,’ and Heidi, my wife, is a huge gay icon.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
That allowed the model to simulate the fine-scale atmospheric processes that give rise to clouds, which in coarser models have to be estimated.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 16, 2023
His analysis showed that the CONUS404 simulations were reliably capturing straight-line winds, as opposed to previous, coarser simulations that failed to capture many such events.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2023
By the vibrations, he learned also that the road had grown coarser.
From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker
Is it a mistake to always default to the view that the people in the mirror universe are driven by the coarsest possible factors, by racism and greed, for example?
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2023
If you have multiple files, work from coarsest to finest, just like sanding a table.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 3, 2022
Justice Stephen G. Breyer was particularly concerned about whether racial slurs and the coarsest of words have a lingering effect.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2019
Areas closest to the river and its branches rose the highest in elevation, because they got the most doses of the coarsest sediment.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 3, 2018
So on that day, Wu Tsing, fearful of my mother’s vengeful spirit, wore the coarsest of white cotton mourning clothes.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
