crude
Americanadjective
-
cruder,
comparative
-
crudest
superlative
-
in a raw or unprepared state; unrefined or natural.
crude sugar.
- Synonyms:
- coarse, unfinished
- Antonyms:
- refined
-
lacking in intellectual subtlety, perceptivity, etc.; rudimentary; undeveloped.
-
lacking finish, polish, or completeness.
a crude summary.
-
lacking culture, refinement, tact, etc..
crude behavior.
- Antonyms:
- refined
-
undisguised; blunt.
a crude answer.
-
Obsolete. unripe; not mature.
noun
-
crudes
plural
adjective
-
lacking taste, tact, or refinement; vulgar
a crude joke
-
in a natural or unrefined state
-
lacking care, knowledge, or skill
a crude sketch
-
(prenominal) stark; blunt
the crude facts
-
(of statistical data) unclassified or unanalysed
-
archaic unripe
noun
Synonym Usage
See raw.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of crude
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin crūdus “uncooked, raw, bleeding, rough,” akin to cruor “blood from a wound”; see raw
Explanation
Is it gross? Unsophisticated? Totally tasteless and positively offensive? Then you can describe it as crude. Crude is not rude when it’s used to describe unprocessed oil, which it first was associated with in 1865. From the Latin crudo, meaning "rough, raw," crude today can be used to describe anything or anyone that's unrefined and rough around the edges. So don’t be too insulted by the large-nosed portrait that cartoonist made for you. It’s just a quick, crude drawing meant to be funny.
Vocabulary lists containing crude
The Diary of Anne Frank
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List 3
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The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 4
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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:
Barclays maintains its Brent crude oil forecast of $96.00 per barrel for 2026.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
That’s mainly because global refining capacity for finished fuels is severely constrained by geopolitical conflicts and facility disruptions, even as crude supplies remain relatively stable.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026
Despite ongoing challenges in the Middle East, this marked the second-largest crude inventory build in history, according to Matt Smith, an analyst at Kpler.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026
It has also become a major importer of illicit Iranian crude, according to industry analysts, shipping brokers and the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
I continued to climb, slowly and assuredly, until I was facing the machine’s crude frame.
From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba
Marathon and Valero noted strong performance from their West Coast refineries, citing recent California refinery closures and increased availability of California crudes, in addition to the war.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
“We displaced international crudes with domestic grades into our refining system and sold the international barrels into tight overseas markets,” Brian Mandell, a Phillips 66 executive, told investors in April.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
The investment allowed them to take advantage of the light-heavy spread, as heavy crudes are typically cheaper because they are lower quality and require more processing.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026
Phillips 66 already has refineries that can process heavy crudes; they have been processing heavy crude from Canada for years.
From Barron's ● Jan. 10, 2026
In the case of alkaline crudes a correction should be made for the acid added.
From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by E. G. Thomssen
In addition to the Shahed-136, Iran also has stocks of earlier, cruder models of the Shahed that it can turn to.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
The stage for his artistic blossoming was set in 1482, when he left the rich mercantile city of Florence for the cruder, more bumptious northern city of Milan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2024
It’s a much cruder, but drastically cheaper, way of monitoring the disease over time versus trying to test as many people as possible.
From Slate ● Jan. 19, 2024
Aker BioMarine’s financial wherewithal depends on another, cruder type of oil: Norway’s massive natural gas and petroleum exports.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2023
If anything, the jeers and shouts were cruder here.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Mr. Sokolov and co-writer Alex Litvak barely bother with scratching out the crudest imaginable dialogue, which is unfortunate because they fancy themselves the creators of a sociopolitical satire along the lines of “Get Out.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
The production, directed by La Jolla Playhouse outgoing artistic director Christopher Ashley, makes musical comedy seem like the crudest of art forms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025
The company's scientists took the crudest of the crude oil components -- the sludge left at the bottom after the distillation process -- and pushed it through one of the membranes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2023
“It’s very difficult to find reliable indicators for even the crudest differences between pleasant and unpleasant music, let alone for the subtle differences that make a nice musical piece become a hit,” he says.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 30, 2023
He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the crudest, most brutal face I’d ever seen— handsome, I guess, but wicked—with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
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.
