adjective
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rough or surly in manner, speech, etc
a gruff reply
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(of a voice, bark, etc) low and throaty
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gruff
First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle Dutch grof “coarse”; cognate with German grob
Explanation
Gruff is an abrupt or forbidding tone. It's the kind of short, brusque response you'd give a telemarketer who called you in the middle of dinner — right before you hung up. Gruff is the perfect adjective to describe a crotchety old man who rarely leaves his house and yells at any children who dare to cross his lawn. You can almost imagine the rough tone of his voice as he points his cane at those pesky "trespassers," his deep, terrifying bark, causing all the children on his lawn to immediately scatter.
Vocabulary lists containing gruff
100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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The Girl Who Drank the Moon
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Auggie & Me
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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.
Gruff, empirically exact and oblivious to feelings, John approaches the world as though it were his lab.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 23, 2023
"At the moment we can deal with it, just about," said Gruff Owen, the rescue organisation's deputy chairman.
From BBC • Aug. 13, 2023
Gruff and irascible, Mr. Young, who survived occasional allegations of shady ethics, was a staunch opponent of environmental causes and a tough defender of Alaska’s oil, mineral and logging industries.
From New York Times • Mar. 18, 2022
When Jonathan Persofsky performed focus-group testing for his Green Gruff cricket-based dog treats, packages covered with images of bugs scored very poorly.
From Washington Post • Sep. 21, 2021
But I'll wager anything he was awfully mad to see Gruff.
From The Sick-a-Bed Lady And Also Hickory Dock, The Very Tired Girl, The Happy-Day, Something That Happened in October, The Amateur Lover, Heart of The City, The Pink Sash, Woman's Only Business by Abbott, Eleanor Hallowell
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.
