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:
Higher crude oil prices could also boost palm oil demand for biodiesel, while Indonesia’s B50 biodiesel mandate is expected to provide additional structural support, he adds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Days before, he delivered a characteristically crude address that singled out CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins in front of a hostile crowd, eliciting angry boos and vicious chants.
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2026
In any event, many factors play into the price of gasoline other than the price of crude, especially on the way down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Brent crude moved back from the $100 threshold, edging 0.3% higher to $100.58 a barrel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
A thirteen-year-old girl, moaning in pain, had arrived by donkey ambulance—a crude cart pulled by a donkey.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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
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
There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding U.S.-Iran tensions, and “the market for non-sanctioned crudes is tight,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026
We invested in a number of low-capital, high-return projects that have allowed us to make more jet fuel, to be more flexible in the crudes that we process, and to make higher-octane gasoline.
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
Later sections where you rely on even cruder tech to spot enemies ratchet up the tension further, at the expense of making the gameplay much slower.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
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
Yet this desire to take over Greenland seems to stem from an impulse even cruder than one might suspect.
From Slate ● Jan. 8, 2026
As for the satire, this faintly cruder version of right now doesn’t have much bite.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2025
The head made Kendra think of a wooden hockey mask, though that was not quite right, because it was cruder and simpler.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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
When April opened the door he said, “Just as I thought, it’s springtime. Melanie! the crudest month is here.”
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
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.
