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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
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.
See Examples For:
She described Winstone as a "lovely man" who was "exactly the same in character as in real life with his proper gruff East End accent".
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
For someone whose notoriety has twice become inseparable from who he’s married to, Pitt’s choice to play gruff loners feels noticeably calculated, keeping an arm’s distance between his work and the audience.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
His approach was unique; he took the grandeur and majesty of the Duke Ellington Orchestra sax section, updated that sound, and infused it with bluesy grit and a gruff, avant-garde crankiness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
But that didn’t stop voters from embracing it, giving the show 19 nominations, including one for Dickey’s turn as the gruff town hall worker who is the Spielberg of overhead projector presentations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
“Who is there?” a gruff voice calls from the darkness.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
“From Day 1, we’ve always run away from whatever record we just finished,” he says, gruffer and more matter-of-fact than his brother.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2021
“There was a handful of people here for something yesterday,” says the voice, which seems to be getting gruffer.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 7, 2018
Pos and Dave sound older and gruffer, as they should, but their trademark wit and verbal dexterity are still in prime form.
From Slate ● Aug. 30, 2016
Tanto is louder, Oz is gruffer, Rone is an old friend of Jack's from past tours of duty.
From The Verge ● Jan. 14, 2016
The gruff voice was gruffer than ever, as the old gentleman said abruptly, after the dreadful pause, “So you’re not afraid of me, hey?”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Possessing one of the sharpest minds in the business, Prince was one of its gruffest truth-tellers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2019
Here bringing heart to what could be a harsh cad, in even his his gruffest, roughest performances, Finney always found an emotional center that allowed audiences in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2019
“Loving you is complicated,” he announces, in his gruffest tone: the “you” is himself, hip-hop, and his own success.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 18, 2015
Mr. Bradlee looked up from his omnipresent crossword puzzle, “and in his gruffest voice,” Pincus recalled, “he said, ‘You ought to be paying me for all the fun you’re having.’ ”
From Washington Post
He's the gruffest, snarliest, biggest man I ever knew—meaner than the devil, and the best friend on top of earth.
From The Glory of the Conquered The Story of a Great Love by Susan Glaspell
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
