rogue

American  

[rohg] / roʊg /

adjective

1. no longer obedient, belonging, or accepted and hence not controllable or answerable; renegade.

   They described him as a rogue cop who had abandoned his training.

2. dangerous and unpredictable.

   They were trapped in the house by a rogue snowstorm.

3. of or noting a nation or state that defies international treaties, laws, etc..

   The blame is placed on rogue states that threaten world peace.

4. (of an animal) having an abnormally violent or unpredictable disposition.

   She helped trap a rogue tiger terrorizing the village.

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noun

• rogues
  plural

1. a dishonest, untrustworthy person; scoundrel.

   We were traveling in secret to avoid running into rogues and thieves.

   Synonyms:

   quack, mountebank, cheat, swindler, trickster, villain

2. a playfully mischievous person; scamp.

   The youngest boys are little rogues.

3. Archaic. a tramp or vagabond.

4. an animal having an abnormally violent or unpredictable disposition.

5. Biology. a usually inferior organism, especially a plant, varying markedly from the normal.

verb (used with object)

• rogues,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rogued,
  past participle,  past
• roguing
  present participle

1. 1. to uproot or destroy (plants that do not conform to a desired standard).

      Usually, roguing the diseased plants is sufficient to minimize further spread.

   2. to perform this operation upon.

      to rogue a field.

2. to cheat.

verb (used without object)

• rogues,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rogued,
  past participle,  past
• roguing
  present participle

1. to live or act as a scoundrel, vagabond, or scamp.

idioms

1. go rogue, to stop being obedient or predictable; to behave in a way that is not allowed or expected.

   Giving people the tools they need to do their jobs greatly reduces the risk of employees going rogue and using unauthorized services.

   To make more money, the agent went rogue and sold his services to the highest bidder.

rogue British  

/ rəʊɡ /

noun

1. a dishonest or unprincipled person, esp a man; rascal; scoundrel

2. humorous a mischievous or wayward person, often a child; scamp

3. a crop plant which is inferior, diseased, or of a different, unwanted variety

4. 1. any inferior or defective specimen

   2. ( as modifier )

      rogue heroin

5. archaic a vagrant

6. 1. an animal of vicious character that has separated from the main herd and leads a solitary life

   2. ( as modifier )

      a rogue elephant

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verb

1. 1. (tr) to rid (a field or crop) of plants that are inferior, diseased, or of an unwanted variety

   2. to identify and remove such plants

Synonym Usage

See knave.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• outrogue
  verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• rogues
  plural

Participles

• roguing
  present
• rogued
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• rogue
  simple
• rogues
  simple
• have rogued
  perfect
• has rogued
  perfect
• am roguing
  progressive
• are roguing
  progressive
• is roguing
  progressive
• have been roguing
  perfect progressive
• has been roguing
  perfect progressive

Past

• rogued
  simple
• had rogued
  perfect
• was roguing
  progressive
• were roguing
  progressive
• had been roguing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will rogue
  simple
• will have rogued
  perfect
• will be roguing
  progressive
• will have been roguing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of rogue

First recorded in 1555–65; origin uncertain, apparently short for obsolete roger “begging vagabond,” originally thieves' jargon

Explanation

A rogue is a sneaky person who has tricks up his sleeve, not like a magician, but like someone who would steal your wallet or cheat at cards. Dishonesty won’t get you far in life, unless you are a rogue who survives by lying and exploiting others. The word comes from the Latin rogare, which means “beg,” and while some rogues dress like beggars to get your money, anyone who deceives is a rogue, like the presidents of corrupt corporations who steal from their employees, or that rogue Uncle Marvin who promises you chocolate for washing his car, but afterward tells you he has no chocolate. That rogue!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rogue rogues rogued roguing

A bike racing controversy that doesn’t involve a rogue doctor and a midnight raid by the gendarmerie?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Ulf’s decision to go rogue was certainly satisfying to anyone who has felt underappreciated by their boss, but he’s hardly Frodo saving Middle-earth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

In rogue AI agent incidents and many other experiments, AI has hidden what it was doing or generated false information.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "This surge in enforcement activity takes us to the highest level in British history. Illegal workers and rogue employers have nowhere to hide."

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

“I read about it once. One of our own agents went rogue, and in order to confuse his trail he started leapfrogging through time.”

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

The single star was painted in berry juice, as was the bear, which looked so porcine that Mexicans who were struggling to protect California from Yankee rogues mocked it as more pig than bear.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

For years, these rogues dominated the president’s daily intelligence brief.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026

Nancy Dunnachie, 65, the widow of a former Morton's Rolls employee tells BBC Scotland: "He kept going on about how they were a 'shower of rogues'."

From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2025

The reverence I had unwittingly infiltrated a culture of rogues & thieves posing as police.

From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2023

“Awfully interesting, more like it. What an inspiring collection of rogues I met in the clink! I’ve got enough material for twenty plays now.”

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

Chapman says, on reading these letters and hearing all the case, that he never heard of any man being more shamefully treated,—that I have been outrageously rogued and robbed throughout.

From Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. I by Edmund Downey

You will recall that the off-type trees were rogued, leaving the parent trees of Nanking, Kuling and Meiling and others of good bearing habits.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 43rd Annual Meeting Rockport, Indiana, August 25, 26 and 27, 1952 by Northern Nut Growers Association

I've rogued and I've ranged in my time, and The things that I learned from the yellow and black, They 'ave helped me a 'eap with the white.

From Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Does he think I will see Squire Rawdon rogued out of his home?

From The Man Between, an International Romance by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr

The practice enters into every hour of every-day life, and the greatest knave that ever rogued never cheated the world half as often as he cheated himself!

From Davenport Dunn, Volume 2 (of 2) A Man Of Our Day by Charles James Lever

For Maciej, a former Aberdeen University student, an offer to go seed potato "roguing" turned out to be the right opportunity.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2012

Potato roguing brings together people from all over the world It is essential to be fit to become a roguer, though it is also important to know what to look for.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2012

The "roguing," as nurserymen call the destroying of varieties which depart from their type, is a kind of selection.

From Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology by Various

These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes; And they hav seized Marina.

From Pericles by William Shakespeare

Control suggestions include roguing affected plants, eliminating weeds, and controlling carrying insects.

From The Tomato by Paul Work

Related Words

• con artist
• crook
• rascal
• swindler
• villain