Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for gruff

gruff

[ gruhf ]

adjective

, gruff·er, gruff·est.
  1. low and harsh; hoarse:

    a gruff voice.

  2. rough, brusque, or surly:

    a gruff manner.

    Synonyms: curt

    Antonyms: courteous



gruff

/ ɡrʌf /

adjective

  1. rough or surly in manner, speech, etc

    a gruff reply

  2. (of a voice, bark, etc) low and throaty
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


Discover More

Derived Forms

  • ˈgruffness, noun
  • ˈgruffly, adverb
  • ˈgruffish, adjective
Discover More

Other Words From

  • gruff·ish adjective
  • gruff·ly adverb
  • gruff·ness noun
  • un·gruff adjective
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of gruff1

First recorded in 1525–35; from Middle Dutch grof “coarse”; cognate with German grob
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of gruff1

C16: originally Scottish, from Dutch grof, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German girob; related to Old English hrēof, Lithuanian kraupùs
Discover More

Example Sentences

He’s a gruff, bald, sometimes crude, Jewish guy who names and displays his toupees.

One can understand why Walter is being played in the way he is—he is your average gruff academic, seemingly detached from the real world around him, and lost in his own head and memories.

Close, a gruff iconoclast and minimalist who created Photorealist portraits across five decades, died on Thursday in New York at 81.

From Time

Lindell appears in those ads to hype his pillows with Billy Mays levels of gruff enthusiasm.

To the hordes who wanted time with Lincoln, the gruff and efficient Nicolay was the “grim enforcer.”

We needed him to be wary, absorbed, and a little bit gruff, and he gamely complied, thereby furthering his own self-made legend.

Bichir manages to be gruff but sensitive, honest yet mysterious, making Ruiz a mix of righteousness and compassion.

Kevin Whately has been playing gruff, sensible detective Robbie Lewis on ‘Morse’ and ‘Lewis’ for 26 years.

He has played the gruff detective from 1987 to 2000 on Morse and from 2006 to the present on Inspector Lewis.

As they were passing a place where the bushes grew thickly by the side of the road, they received a gruff command to halt.

The fact was that Benny himself did not know why he liked this stranger who was so gruff at times and so pleasant at others.

Even the gruff, grumpy, unsociable rhinoceros amiably allowed him to stroke its head with his trunk.

He spoke angrily, and no longer in a low tone, but gruff and loud enough to be heard some distance away.

"Salam Aliekoom," said a gruff voice, as a man with Peer Khan entered the tent.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


gruesomegruffly